V --' ;'^te' s SvV 0 ’ 

, . t ,■*••♦*%'•.«• 4cA> < t ».),!,"■« :.» ( :* * .fi/ ♦*•/»{- f'^*fV ’<»/'• 4 'i*' k * 





























































































' ( 






































































































































































































Illustrated by, 

EBBe/vsell 


Charles Scribner's Sons 

===== 1882 .— - 























































































Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, 

By FRANK R. STOCKTON, 

n the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of 

Pennsylvania. 


Copyright, 1882, 

By CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS. 


•) 

v 

-> < 
) JO 



/ 


/3t> 


To THK 

MEMORY OF ALL 
GOOD GIANTS, DWARFS, AND FAIRIES, 
&i)fs aSooft 


IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. 




TING-A-LING. 


In a far country of the East, in a palace sur¬ 
rounded by orange groves, where the nightingales 
sang, and by silvery lakes, where the soft fountains 
plashed, there lived a fine old king. For many years 
he had governed with great comfort to himself, and 
to the tolerable satisfaction of his subjects. His 
queen being dead, his whole affection was given to 
his only child, the Princess Aufalia; and, whenever 
he happened to think of it, he paid great attention 
to her education. She had the best masters of 
embroidery and in the language of flowers, and she 
took lessons on the zitliar three times a week. 

A suitable husband, the son of a neighboring 
monarch, had been selected for her when she was 
about two hours old, thus making it unnecessary 
for her to go into society, and she consequently 
passed her youthful days in almost entire seclusion. 
She was now, when our story begins, a woman 
more beautiful than the roses of the garden, more 
1 



2 


TING-A-LING. 


musical than the nightingales, and far more grace¬ 
ful than the plashing fountains. 

One balm}' day in spring, when the birds were 
singing lively songs on the trees, and the crocuses 
were coaxing the jonquils almost off their very 
stems with their pretty ways, Aufalia went out to 
take a little promenade, followed by two grim 
slaves. Closely veiled, she walked in the secluded 
suburbs of the town, where slie was generally 



required to take her lonely exercise. To-day, 
however, the slaves, impelled by a sweet tooth, 
which each of them possessed, thought it would 
be no harm if they went a little out of their way 
to procure some sugared cream-beans, which were 
made excellently well by a confectioner near the 
outskirts of the city. While they were in the 
shop, bargaining for the sugar-beans, a young 
man who was passing thereby stepped up to the 




TING-A-LING. 


3 


Princess, and asked her if she could tell him the 
shortest road to the baths, and if there was a 
good eating-house in the neighborhood. Now 
as this was the first time in her life that the 
Princess had been addressed by a young man, it 
is not surprising that she was too much aston¬ 
ished to speak, especially as this youth was well 
dressed, extremely handsome, and of proud and 
dignified manners, — although, to be sure, a 
little travel-stained and tired-looking. 

When she had somewhat recovered from her 
embarrassment, she raised her veil, (as if it was 
necessary to do so in speaking to a young man!) 
and told him that she was sure she had not the 
slightest idea where any place in the city was, — 
that she very seldom went into the city, and never 
thought about the way to any place when she 
did go, — that she wished she knew where those 
places were that he mentioned, for she would 
very much like to tell him, especially if he was 
hungry, which she knew was-not pleasant, and 
no doubt he w r as not used to it, but that indeed she 
hadn’t any idea about the way anywhere, but — 

There is no knowing how long the Princess 
might have run on thus (and her veil up all the 
time) had not the two slaves at that moment 


4 


TIN G-A-LIN G. 


emerged from the sugar-bean shop. The siglii 
of the Princess actually talking to a young man 
in the broad daylight so amazed them, that they 
stood for a moment dumb in the door. -But, re¬ 
covering from their surprise, they drew their 
cimeters, and ran toward the Prince (for such 
his every action proclaimed him to be). When 
this high-born personage saw them coming with 
drawn blades, his countenance flushed, and his 



eyes sparkled with rage. Drawing his flashing 
sword, he shouted, “ Crouch, varlets! Lie with 
the dust, ye dogs ! ” and sprang furiously upon 
them. 

The impetuosity of the onslaught caused the 
two men to pause, and in a few minutes they fell 



TING-A-LING. 


5 


back some yards, so fast and heavy did the long 
sword clash upon their upraised cimeters. This 
contest was soon over, for, unaccustomed to such 
a vigorous method of attack, the slaves turned 
and lied, and the Prince pursued them down a 
long street, and up an alley, and over a wall, and 
through a garden, and under an arch, and over 
a court-yard, and through a gate, and down 
another street, and up another alley, and through 
a house, and up a long staircase, and out upon 
a roof, and over several abutments, and down a 
trap-door, and down another pair of stairs, and 
through another house, into another garden, and 
over another wall, and down a long road, and 
over a field, clear out of sight. 

When the Prince had performed this feat, he 
sat down to rest, but, suddenly bethinking him¬ 
self of the maiden, he rose and went to look for 
her. 

“ I have chased away her servants,” said he; 
“ how will she ever find her way anywhere P ” 

If this was difficult for her, the Prince found 
that it was no less so for himself; and he spent 
much time in endeavoring to reach again the 
northern suburbs of the city. At last, after con¬ 
siderable walking, he reached the long street into 


6 


TING-A-LING. 


which he had first chased the slaves, and, finding 
a line of children eagerly devouring a line of 
sugared cream-beaus, he remembered seeing these 
confections dropping from the pockets of the 
slaves as he pursued them, and, following up the 
clew, soon reached the shop, and found the Prin¬ 
cess sitting under a tree before the door. The 
shop-keeper, knowing her to be the Princess, had 
been afraid to speak to her, and was working 



away inside, making believe that he had not seen 
her, and that he knew nothing of the conflict 
which had taken place before his door. 

Up jumped Aufalia. “ 0! I am so glad to 
see you again ! I have been waiting here ever 
so long. But what have you done with my 
slaves ? ” 

“ I am your slave,” said the Prince, bowing 
to the ground. 




TING-A-LING. 


7 


** But you don’t know the way home,” said she, 
and I am dreadfully hungry.” 

Having* ascertained from her that she was the 
King’s daughter, and lived at the palace, the 
Prince reflected for a moment, and then, entering 
the shop, dragged forth the maker of sugared 
cream-beans, and ordered him to lead the way 
to the presence of the King. The confectioner, 
crouching to the earth, immediately started off, 
and the Prince and Princess, side by side, followed 
over what seemed to them a very short road to 
the palace. The Princess talked a great deal, 
but the Prince was rather quiet. He had a good 
many things to think about. He was the younger 
son of a king who lived far away to the north, 
and had been obliged to flee the kingdom on 
account of the custom of allowing only one full- 
grown heir to the throne to live in the country. 

“ Now,” thought he, “ this is an excellent com¬ 
mencement of my adventures. Here is a truly 
lovely Princess whom I am conducting to her 
anxious parent. He will be overwhelmed with 
gratitude, and will doubtless bestow^ upon me the 
government of a province — or — perhaps he will 
make me his Vizier — no, I will not accept that, 
— the province will suit me better.” Having set- 


3 


TING-A-LING. 


tied this little matter to liis mind, he gladdened 
the heart of the Princess with the dulcet tones 
of his gentle voice. 

On reaching the palace, they went directly fo 
the grand hall, where the King was giving audi¬ 
ence. Justly astounded at perceiving his daugh¬ 
ter (now veiled) approaching under the guidance 
of a crouching sugar-bean maker and a strange 
young man, he sat in silent amazement, until 
the Prince, who was used to court life, had made 
his manners, and related his story. When the 
King had heard it, he clapped his hands three 
times, and in rushed twenty-four eunuchs. 

“ Take,” said the monarch, “ this bird to her 
bower.” And they surrounded the Princess, and 
hurried her off to the women’s apartments. 

Then he clapped his hands twice, and in rushed 
twenty-four armed guards from another door. 

“ Bind me this dog ! ” quoth the King, point¬ 
ing to the Prince. And they bound him in a 
twinkling. 

“Is this the way you treat a stranger?” cried 
the Prince. 

“ Aye,” said the King, merrily. “We will 
treat you royally. You are tired. To-night and 
to-morrow you shall be lodged and feasted daintily, 


TIXG-A-LIXG. 


9 


and the day after we will have a celebration, 
when you shall be beaten with sticks, and shall 
fight a tiger, and be tossed by a bull, and be 
bowstrung, and beheaded, and drawn and quar¬ 
tered, and we will have a nice time. Bear him 
away to his soft couch.” 



The guards then led the Prince away to be 
kept a prisoner until the day for the celebration. 
The room to which he was conducted was com¬ 
fortable, and he soon had » plenteous supper laid 
out before him, of which he partook with great 
avidity. Having finished his meal, he sat down 




















10 


TING-A-LIXG. 


to reflect upon liis condition, but feeling very 
sleepy, and remembering that he would have a 
whole day of leisure, to-morrow, for such reflec¬ 
tions, he concluded to go to bed. Before doing 
so, however, he wished to make all secure for the 
night. Examining the door, he found there was 
no lock to it; and being unwilling to remain all 
night liable to intrusion, he pondered the matter 
for some minutes, and then took up a wide and 
very heavy stool, and, having partially opened the 
door, he put the stool up over it, resting it partly 
on the door and partly on the surrounding wood¬ 
work, so that if any one tried to come in, and 
pushed the door open, the stool would fall down 
and knock the intruder’s head off. Having ar¬ 
ranged this to his satisfaction, the Prince went to 
bed. 

That evening the Princess Aufalia was in great 
grief, for she had heard of the sentence pro¬ 
nounced upon the Prince, and felt herself the 
cause of it. What other reason she had to grieve 
over the Prince’s death, need not be told. Her 
handmaidens fully sympathized with her; and 
one of them, Nerralina, the handsomest and most 
energetic of them all, soon found, by proper 
inquiry, that the Prince was confined in the fourth 


TING-A—LING. 


11 


story of the “ Tower of Tears.” So they devised 
a scheme for his rescue. Each one of the young 
ladies contributed her scarf; and when they were 
all tied together, the conclave decided that they 
made a rope plenty long enough to reach from 
the Prince’s window to the ground. 

Thus much settled, it only remained to get this 



means of escape to the prisoner. This the lady 
Nerralina volunteered to do. Waiting until the 
dead of night, she took off her slippers, and with 























12 


% 

TIXG-A-LINC. 

the scarf-rope rolled up into a ball under her arm, 
she silently stepped past the drowsy sentinels, 
and, reaching- the Prince’s room, pushed open 
the door, and the stool fell down and knocked 
her head off. Her body lay in the doorway, but 
her head rolled into the middle of the room. 

Notwithstanding’ the noise occasioned by this 
accident, the Prince did not awake; but in the 
morning, when he was up and nearly dressed, he 
was astonished at seeing a lady’s head in the 
middle of the room. 

“ Hallo ! ” said he. “ Here’s somebody’s head.” 

Picking it up, he regarded it with considerable 
interest. Then seeing the body in the doorway, 
he put the head and it together, and, finding they 
fitted, came to the conclusion that they belonged 
to each other, and that the stool had done the mis¬ 
chief. When he saw the bundle of scarfs lying by 
the body, he unrolled it, and soon imagined the 
cause of the lady’s visit. 

“ Poor thing ! ” he said ; “ doubtless the Prin¬ 
cess sent her here with this, and most likely with 
a message also, which now I shall never hear. 
But these poor women ! what do they know? This 
rope will not bear a man like me. Well! well! 
this poor girl is dead. I will pay respect to her.” 


TING-A-LING. 


13 


And so lie picked lier up, and put her on his 
bed, thinking at the time that she must have 
fainted when she heard the stool coming, for no 
blood had flowed. He fitted on the head, and then 
he covered her up with the sheet; but, in pulling 



this over her head, he uncovered her feet, which 
he now perceived to be slipperless. 

“No shoes! Ah me! Well, I will be polite to 
a lady, even if she is dead.” 

And so he drew off his own yellow boots, and 
put them on her feet, which was easy enough, as 
they were a little too big for her. He had hardly 
done this, and dressed himself, when he heard some 







14 


TING-A-LING. 


one approaching; and hastily removing the fallen 
stool, he got behind the door just as a fat old 
fellow entered with a broadsword in one hand, 
and a pitcher of hot water and some towels in the 
other. Glancing at the bed, and seeing the yellow 
boots sticking out, the old fellow muttered : “ Gone 
to bed with his clothes on, eh? Well, I’ll let him 
sleep! ” And so, putting down the pitcher and 
the towels, he walked out again. But not alone, 
for the Prince silently stepped after him, and by 
keeping close behind him, followed without being 
heard, — his politeness having been the fortunate 
cause of his being in his stocking-feet. For some 
distance they walked together thus, the Prince 
intending to slip off at the first cross passage ho 
came to. It was quite dusky in the long hall way, 
there being no wiudows; and when the guard, at a 
certain place, made a very wide step, taking hold 
of a rod by the side of the wall as he did so, the 
Prince, not perceiving this, walked straight on, 
and popped right down an open trap-door. 

Nerralina not returning, the Princes^ was in 
great grief, not knowing at first whether she had 
eloped with the Prince, or had met with some 
misfortune on the way to his room. In the 
morning, however, the ladies ascertained that the 


TLXG-A-LING. 


15 


rope was not hanging from the Prince’s window; 
and as the guards reported that he was comfort¬ 
ably sleeping in his bed, it was unanimously con¬ 
cluded that Nerralina had been discovered in her 
attempt, and had come to grief. Sorrowing bit¬ 
terly, somewhat for the unknown mishap of her 
maid of honor, but still more for the now certain 
fate of him she loved, Aufalia went into the gar¬ 
den, and, making her way through masses of rose- 
trees and jasmines, to the most secluded part of 
the grounds, threw herself upon a violet bank and 
wept unrestrainedly, the tears rolling one by one 
from her eyes, like a continuous string of pearls. 

Now it so happened that this spot was the 
pleasure ground of a company of fairies, who had 
a colony near by. These fairies were about an 
inch and a half high, beautifully formed, and of 
the most respectable class. They had not been 
molested for years by any one coming to this spot; 
but as they knew perfectly well who the Princess 
was, they were not at all alarmed at her appear¬ 
ance. In fact, the sight of her tears rolling so 
prettily down into the violet cups, and over the 
green leaves, seemed to please them much, and 
many of the younger ones took up a tear or two 
upon their shoulders to take home with them. 


1(5 


TING-A-LING. 


There was one youth, the handsomest of them 
all, named Ting-a-ling, who had a beautiful little 
sweetheart called Ling-a-ting. 

Each one of these lovers, when they were about 
to return to their homes, picked up the prettiest 
tear they could find. Ting-a-ling put his tear 
upon his shoulder, and walked along as gracefully 
as an Egyptian woman with her water-jug; while 
little Ling-a-ting, with her treasure borne lightly 
over her head, skipped by her lover’s side, as happy 
as happy could be. 

“ Don’t walk out in the sun, my dearest,” said 
Ting-a-ling. “ Your shin-shiney will burst.” 

“ Burst! 0 no, Tingy darling, no it won’t. See 
how nice and big it is getting, and so light! 
Look! ” cried she, throwing back her head; “ I 
can see the sky through it; and 0 ! what pretty 
colors, — blue, green, pink, and ” — And the tear 
burst, and poor little Ling-a-ting sunk down on 
the grass, drenched and drowned. 

Horror-stricken, Ting-a-ling dropped his tear 
and wept. Clasping his hands above his head, he 
fell on his knees beside his dear one, and raised 
his eyes to the blue sky in bitter anguish. But 
when lie cast them down again, little Ling-a-ting 
was all soaked into the grass. Then sterner feel- 


TIXG-A-LING. 


17 


ings filled his breast, and revenge stirred up the 
depths of his soul. 

“ This thing shall end ! 55 he said, hissing the 
words between his teeth. “No more of us shall 
die like Ling-a-ting ! 55 

So he ran quickly, and with his little sword cut 
down two violets, and of the petals he made two 
little soft bundles, and, tying them together with 
his garters, he slung them over his shoulder. Full 
of his terrible purpose, he then ran to the Prin¬ 
cess, and, going behind her, clambered up her 
dress until he stood on her shoulder, and, getting 
on the top of her head, he loosened a long hair, 
and lowered himself down with it, until he stood 
upon the under lashes of her left eye. Now, his 
intention was evident. Those violet bundles were 
to “ end this thing.” They were to be crammed 
into the source of those fatal tears, to the beauty 
of which poor Ling-a-ting had fallen a victim. 

“ Now we shall see,” said he, “ if some things 
cannot be done as well as others! ” and, kneel¬ 
ing down, he took one bundle from his shoulder, 
and prepared to put it in her eye. It is true, 
that, occupying the position he did, he, in some 
measure, obstructed the lady’s vision; but as her 
eyes had been so long dimmed with tears, and her 


18 


TING-A-LING. 


heart overshadowed with sorrow, she did not no¬ 
tice it. 

Just as Ting-a-ling was about to execute his 
purpose, he happened to look before him, and saw, 
to his amazement, another little fairy on his knees, 
right in front of him. Starting back, he dropped 
the bundle from his hand, and the other from his 
shoulder. Then, upon his hands and knees, he 
stared steadfastly at the little man opposite to 
him, who immediately imitated him. And there 
they knelt with equal wonder in each of their 
countenances, bobbing at each other every time 
the lady winked. Then did Ting-a-ling get very 
red in the face, and, standing erect, he took strong 
hold of the Princess’s upper eyelash, to steady 
himself, resolved upon giving that saucy fairy a 
good kick, when, to his dismay, the eyelash came 
out, he lost his balance, and at the same moment 
a fresh shower of tears burst from her eyes, which 
washed Ting-a-ling senseless into her lap. 

When he recovered, he was still sticking to the 
Princess’s silk apron, all unobserved, as she sat in 
her own room talking to one of her maids, who 
had just returned from a long visit into the coun¬ 
try. Slipping down to the floor, Ting-a-ling ran 
all shivering to the window, to the scat of which 


TING-A-LING. 


i y 

he climbed, and getting 1 upon a chrysanthemum 
that was growing in a flower-pot in the sunshine, 
he took off his shoes and stockings, and, hanging 
them on a branch to dry, laid down in the warm 
blossom ; and while he was drying, listened to the 
mournful tale that Aufalia was telling her maid, 
about the poor Prince that was to die to-morrow. 
The more lie heard, the more was his tender heart 
touched with pity, and, forgetting all his resent¬ 
ment against the Princess, he felt only the deep¬ 
est sympathy for her misfortunes, and those of her 
lover. When she had finished, Ting-a-ling had 
resolved to assist them, or die in the attempt! 

But, as he could not do much himself, he in¬ 
tended instantly to lay their case before a Giant 
of his acquaintance, whose good-humor and benev¬ 
olence were proverbial. So he put on his shoes 
and stockings, which were not quite dry, and has¬ 
tily descended to the garden by means of a vine 
which grew upon the wall. The distance to the 
Giant’s castle was too great for him to think of 
walking; and he hurried around to a friend of his 
who kept a livery-stable. When he reached this 
place, he found his friend sitting in his stable-door, 
and behind him Ting-a-ling could see the long 
rows of stalls, with all the butterflies on one side, 
and the grasshoppers on the other. 


20 


TING-A-LING. 


“ How do you do ? ” said Ting-a-ling, seating 
himself upon a horse-block, and wiping his face. 
“ It is a hot day, isn’t it ? ” 

“ Yes, sir,” said the livery-stable man, w ho w'as 
rounder and shorter than Ting-a-ling. “ Yes, it 
is very warm. I haven’t been out to-day.” 

“Well, I shouldn’t advise you to go,” said Ting- 
a-ling. “ But I must to business, for I’m in a 
great hurry. Have you a fast butterfly that you 
can let me have right away ? ” 

“ 0 yes, two or three of them, for that matter.” 
“ Have you that one,” asked Ting-a-ling, “ that 
I used to take out last summer? ” 

“ That animal,” said the livery-stable man, ris¬ 
ing and clasping his hands under his coat-tail, 
“ I am sorry to say, you can’t have. He’s 
foundered.” 

“ That’s bad,” said Ting-a-ling, “ for I always 
liked him.” 

“ I can let you have one just as fast,” said the 
stable-keeper. “ By the w T ay, how would you like 
a real good grasshopper ? ” 

“Too hot a day for the saddle,” said Ting-a- 
ling ; “ and now please harness up, for I’m in a 
dreadful hurry.” 

“ Yes, sir, right away. But J don’t know' exactly 


TING-A-LING. 


21 


vvliat wagon to give you. I have two first-rate 
new pea-pods; but they are both out. However, 
I can let you have a nice easy Johnny-jump-up, if 
you say so.” 

“ Any thing will do,” said Ting-a-ling, “ only 
get it out quick.” 

In a very short time a butterfly was brought 
out, and harnessed to a first-class Johnny-jump- 
up. The vehicles used by these fairies were gen¬ 
erally a cup-like blossom, or something of that 
nature, furnished, instead of wheels, with little 
.bags filled with a gas resembling that used to in¬ 
flate balloons. Thus the vehicle was sustained in 
the air, while the steed drew it rapidly along. 

As soon as Ting-a-ling heard the sound of the 
approaching equipage, he stood upon the horse¬ 
block, and when the wagon was brought up to 
it, he quickly jumped in and took the reins from 
the hostler. “ Get up! ” said he, and away they 
went. 

It was a long drive, and it was at least three 
in the afternoon when Ting-a-ling reached the 
Giant’s castle. Drawing up before the great 
gates, he tied his animal to a hinge, and walked 
in himself under the gate. Going boldly into the 
hall, he went up-stairs, or rather he ran up the 




22 


TING-A-LING. 


top rail of the banisters, for it would have been 
hard work for him to have clambered up each sep¬ 
arate step. As he expected, he found the Giant 
(whose name I forgot to say was Tur-il-i-ra) in his 
dining-room. He had just finished his dinner, 
and was sitting in his arm-chair by the table, fast 
asleep. This Giant was about as large as two 
mammoths. It was useless for Ting-a-ling to 
stand on the floor, and endeavor to make himself 
heard above the roaring of the snoring, which 
sounded louder than the thunders of a cataract. 
So, climbing upon one of the Giant’s boots, he 
ran up his leg, and hurried over the waistcoat so 
fast, that, slipping on one of the brass buttons, he 
came down upon his knees with great force. 

“ Whew ! ” said he, “'that must have hurt him ! 
after dinner too ! ” 

Jumping up quickly, he ran easily over the 
bosom, and getting on his shoulder, clambered up 
into his ear. Standing up in the opening of this 
immense cavity, he took hold of one side with 
his outstretched arms, and shouted with all his 
might, — 

“Tur- il-i! Tur- il-i ! Tur- il-i-RA ! ” 

Startled at the noise, the Giant clapped his hand 
to his ear with such force, that had not Ting-a- 


TING-A-LING. 28 

ling held on very tightly, he would have been shot 
up against the tympanum of this mighty man. 

“ Don’t do that again ! ” cried the little fellow. 
“Don’t do that again! It’s only me — Ting-a- 
ling. Hold your finger.” 

Recognizing the voice of his young friend, the 
Giant held out his forefinger, and Ting-a-ling, 
mounting it, was carried round before the Giant’s 
face, where he proceeded to relate the misfortunes 
of the two lovers, in his most polished and affect¬ 
ing style. 

The Giant listened with much attention, and 
when he had done, said, “ Ting-a-ling, I feel a 
great interest in all young people, and will do 
what I can for this truly unfortunate couple. But 
I must finish my nap first, otherwise I could not 
do anything. Please jump down on the table 
and eat something, while I go to sleep for a little 
while.” 

So saying, he put Ting-a-ling gently down upon 
the table. But this young gentleman, having a 
dainty appetite, did not see much that he thought 
he would like ; but, cutting a grain of rice in two, 
he ate the half of it, and then laid down on a nap¬ 
kin and went to sleep. 

When Tur-il-i-ra awoke, he remembered that it 


24 


TIN G-A-LIN G. 


was time to be off, and, waking’ Ting-a-ling, he took 
out his great purse, and placed the little fairy in 
it, ^here he had very comfortable quarters, as 
there was no money there to hurt him. 

“ Don’t forget my wagon when you get to the 
gate,” said Ting-a-ling, sleepily, rolling himself 
up for a fresh nap, as the Giant closed the purse 
with a snap. Tur-il-i-ra, having put on his hat, 
went down-stairs, and crossed the court-yard in a 
very few steps. When he had closed the great 
gates after him, he bethought himself of Ting-a- 
ling’s turn-out, which the fairy had mentioned as 
being tied to the hinge. Not being able to see 
anything so minute at the distance of his eyes 
from the ground, he put on his spectacles, and 
getting upon his hands and knees, peered closely 
about the hinges. 

“ 0! here you are,” said he, and, picking up 
the butterfly and wagon, he put them in his vest 
pocket — that is, all excepting the butterfly’s head. 
That remained fast to the hinge, as the Giant for¬ 
got he was tied. Then our lofty friend set off 
at a smart pace for the King’s castle; but not¬ 
withstanding his haste, it was dark when he 
reached it. 

“Come now, young man,” said he, opening his 


TING-A-LING. 


25 


purse, “ wake up, and let us get to work. Where 
is that Prince you were talking about ? ” 

“ Well, I’m sure I don’t know,” said Ting-a- 
ling, rubbing his eyes. “ But just put me up to 
that window which has the vine growing beneath 
it. That is the Princess’s room, and she can tell 
us all about it.” 

So the giant took him on his finger, and put 
him in the window. There, in the lighted room, 
Ting-a-ling beheld a sight which greatly moved 
him. Although she had slept but little the night 
before, the Princess was still up, and was sitting 
in an easy-chair, weeping profusely. Near her 
stood a maid-of-honor, who continually handed 
her fresh handkerchiefs from a great basketful 
by her side. As fast as the Princess was done 
with one, she threw it behind her, and the great 
pile there showed that she must have been weep¬ 
ing nearly all day. Getting down upon the floor, 
Ting-a-ling clambered up the Princess’s dress, 
and reaching, at last, her ear, shouted into it, — 

“Princess! Princess! Stop crying, for I’m 
come ! ” 

The Princess was very much startled; but she 
did not, like the Giant, clap her hand to her ear, 
for if she had, she would have ruined the beau- 


26 


TING-A-LING. 


tiful curls which stood out so nicely on each side. 
Ting-a-ling implored her to be quiet, and told her 
that the Giant had come to assist her, and that 
they wanted to know where the Prince was con¬ 
fined. 

“ I will tell you ! I will show you ! ” cried the 
Princess quickly, and, jumping up, she ran to the 
window with Ting-a-ling still at her ear. “ O 
you good giant,” she cried, “ are you there ? If 
you will take me, I will show you the tower, the 
cruel tower, where my Prince is confined.” 

“ Fear not! ” said the good Giant. “ Fear not! 
I soon will release him. Let me take you in my 
hands, and do you show me where to go.” 

“ Are you sure you can hold me ? ” said the 
Princess, standing timidly upon the edge of the 
window. 

“I guess so,” said the Giant. “ Just get into 
my hands.” 

And, taking her down gently, he set her on his 
arm, and then he took Ting-a-ling from her hair, 
and placed him on the tip of his thumb. Thus 
they proceeded to the Tower of Tears. 

“ Here is the place,” said the Princess. “ Here 
is the horrid tower where my beloved is. Please 
put me down a minute, and let me cry.” 


TING-A-LING. 


27 




“No, no,” said the Giant; “you have done 
enough of that, my dear, and we have no time to 
spare. So, if this is your Prince’s tower, just get 
in at the window, and tell him to come out quickly, 
and I will take you both away without making any 
fuss.” 

“That is the window — the fourtli-story one. 
Lift me up,” said the Princess. 

But though the Giant was very large, he was 
not quite tall enough for this feat, for they built 
their towers very high in those days. So, putting 
Ting-a-ling and the Princess into his pocket, he 
looked around for something to stand on. Seeing 
a barn near by, he picked it up, and placed it 
underneath the window. He put his foot on it 
to try if it would bear him, and, finding it would 
(for in those times barns were very strong), lie 
stood upon it, and looked in the fourth-story win¬ 
dow. Taking his little friends out of his pocket, 
he put them on the window-sill, where Ting-a- 
ling remained to see what would happen, but the 
Princess jumped right down on the floor. As 
there was a lighted candle on the table, she saw 
that there was some one covered up in the bed. 

“ 0, there he is ! ” said she. “ Now I will wake 
him up, and hurry him away.” But just at that 


28 


TIN G-A-LIN G. 


moment, as she was going to give the sleeper a 
gentle shake, she happened to perceive the yellow 
boots sticking out from under the sheet. 

“ 0 dear! ” said she in a low voice, “ if he 
hasn’t gone to bed with his boots on ! And if I 
wake him, he will jump right down on the floor, 
and make a great noise, and we shall be found 
out.” 

So she went to the foot of the bed, and pulled 
off the boots very gently. 

“ White stockings ! ” said she. “ What does 
this mean ? I know the Prince wore green stock¬ 
ings, for I took particular notice how well they 
looked with his yellow boots. There must be 
something wrong, I declare! Let me run to the 
other end of the bed, and see how it is there. O 
my! 0 my! ” cried she, turning down the sheet. 
“A woman’s head ! Wrong both ways! 0 what 
shall I do?” 

Letting the sheet drop, she accidentally touched 
the head, which immediately rolled off on to the 
floor. 

“ Loose! Loose !! Loose !!! ” she screamed in 
bitter agony, clasping her hands above her head. 
“What shall I ever do? 0 misery! misery me! 
Some demon has changed him, all but his boots. 
0 Despair ! Despair! ” 


TING-A-LING. 


29 


And, without knowing what she did, she rushed 
frantically out of the room, and along the dark 
passage, and popped right down through the open 
trap. 

“ What’s up ? ” said the Giant, putting his 
face to the window. “ What’s all this noise 
about ? ” 

“ 0 I don’t know,” said Ting-a-Iing, almost 
crying, “but somebody’s head is off; and it’s a 
lady — all but the boots — and the Princess has 
run away ! O dear ! 0 dear ! ” 

“Come now!” said Tur-il-i-ra, “Ting-a-Iing, 
get into my pocket. I must see into this myself, 
for I can’t be waiting here all night, you know.” 

So the Giant, still standing on the barn, lifted 
off the roof of the tower, and threw it to some 
distance. He then, by the moonlight, examined 
the upper story, but, finding no Prince or Prin¬ 
cess, brushed down the walls until he came to the 
floor, and, taking it up, he looked carefully over 
the next story. This he continued, until he had 
torn down the whole tower, and found no one but 
servants and guards, who ran away in all direc¬ 
tions, like ants when you destroy their hills. He 

£ 

then kicked down all those walls which connected 
the tower with the rest of the palace, and, when 


30 


TING-A-LING. 


it was all level with the ground, he happened to 
notice, almost at his feet, a circular opening like 
an entrance to a vault, from which arose a very 
pleasant smell as of something good to eat. 
Stooping down to see what it was that caused 
this agreeable perfume, he perceived that at the 
distance of a few yards the aperture terminated 
in a huge yellow substance, in which, upon a 
closer inspection, he saw four feet sticking up — 
two with slippers, and two with green stock¬ 
ings. 

“Why, this is strange!” said he, and, stooping 
down, he felt the substance, and found it was 
quite soft and yielding. He then loosened it by 
passing his hand around it, and directly lifted it 
out almost entire. 

“ By the heard of the Prophet! ” he cried, “ hut 
this is a cheese! ” and, turning it over, he saw 
on the other side two heads, one with short black 
hair, and the other covered with beautiful brown 
curls. 

“ Why, here they are! As I’m a living Giant! 
these must he the Prince and Princess, stowed 
away in a cheese! ” And he laughed until the 
very hills cracked. 

When he got a little over his merriment, he 


TING-A-LING. 


31 


asked the imprisoned couple how they got there, 
and if they felt comfortable. They replied that 
they had fallen down a trap, and had gone nearly 
through this cheese, where they had stuck fast, 
and that was all they had known about it; and if 
the blood did not run down into their heads so, 
they would be pretty comfortable, thank him — 
which last remark the Giant accounted for by 
the fact, that, when lovers are near each other, 
they do not generally pay much attention to sur¬ 
rounding circumstances. 

“This, then,” said he, rising, “is where the 
King hardens his cheeses, is it? Well, well, it’s 
a jolly go ! ” And he laughed some more. 

“ O Tur-il-i-ra,” cried Tiug-a-ling, looking out 
from the vest-pocket, “ I’m so glad you’ve found 
them.” 

“ Well, so am I,” said the Giant. 

Then Tur-il-i-ra, still holding the cheese, walked 
away for a little distance, and sat down on a high 
bank, intending to wait there until morning, when 
he would call on the King, and confer with him 
in relation to his new-found treasure. Leaning 
against a great rock, the Giant put the cheese 
upon his knees in such a manner as not to injure 
the heads and feet of the lovers, and dropped into 
a very comfortable sleep. 


32 


TIN G-A-LIN G. 


“ Don’t I wish I could get my arms out! ” 
whispered the Prince. 

“ 0 my ! ” whispered the Princess. 

Ting-a-ling, liaviug now nothing to occupy his 
mind, and desiring to stretch his legs, got out of 
the vest-pocket where he had remained so safely 
during all the disturbance, and descended to the 
ground to take a little walk. He had not gone 
far before he met a young friend, who was run¬ 
ning along as fast as he could. 

“ Hallo ! Ting-a-ling,” cried the other. “ Is 
that you ? Come w T ith me, and I will show you 
the funniest thing you ever saw in your life.” 

“ Is it far?” said Ting-a-ling, “for I must be 
back here by daylight.” 

“ 0 no! come on. It won’t take you long, 
and 1 tell you, it’s fun ! ” 

So away they ran, merrily vaulting over the 
hickory-nuts, or acorns, that happened to be in 
their way, in mere playfulness, as if they were 
nothing. They soon came to a large, open space, 
so brightly lighted by the moon, that every object 
was as visible as if it were daylight. Scattered 
over the smooth green were thousands of fairies 
of Ting-a-ling’s nation, the most of whom were 
standing gazing intently at a very wonderful sight. 


TIXG-A-LING. 


38 


Seated on a stone, under a great tree that stood 
all alone in the centre of this plain, was a woman 
without any head. She moved her hands rapidly 
about over her shoulders, as if in search of the 
missing portion of herself, and, encountering 
nothing but mere air, she got very angry, and 
stamped her feet, and shrugged her shoulders, 
which amused the fairies very much, and they all 
set up a great laugh, and seemed to be enjoying 
the fun amazingly. On one side, down by a little 
brook, was a busy crowd of fairies, who appeared 
to be washing something therein. Scattered all 
around were portions of the Tower of Tears, much 
of which had fallen hereabouts. 

Ting-a-ling and his friend had not gazed long 
upon this scene before the sound of music was 
heard, and in a few moments there appeared from 
out the woods a gorgeous procession. First came 
a large band of music, ringing blue-bells and 
blowing honeysuckles. Then came an array of 
courtiers, magnificently dressed ; and, after them, 
the Queen of the fairies, riding in a beautiful 
water-lily, drawn by six royal purple butterflies, 
and surrounded by a brilliant body of lords and 
ladies. 

This procession halted at a short distance in 
3 


34 


TING-A-LING. 


front of the lady-minus-a-head, and formed itself 
into a semicircle, with the Queen in the centre. 
Then the crowd at the brook were seen approach¬ 
ing, and on the shoulders of the multitude was 
borne a head. They hurried as fast as tlieir 
heavy load would permit, until they came to the 
tree under which sat the headless Nerralina, who, 
bed and all, had fallen here, when the Giant tore 
down the tower. Then quickly attaching a long 
rope (that they had put over a branch directly 
above the lady) to the hair of the head, they all 
took hold of the other end, and, pulling with a 
will, soon hoisted the head up until it hung at 
some distance above the neck to which it had pre¬ 
viously belonged. Now they began to lower it 
slowly, and the Queen stood up with her wand 
raised ready to utter the magic word which 
should unite the parts when they touched. A 
deep silence spread over the plain, and even the 
lady seemed conscious that something was about 
to happen, for she stood up and remained perfectly 
still. 

There was but one person there who did not feel 
pleasure at the approaching event, and that was a 
dwarf about a foot high, very ugly and wicked, 
who, by some means or other, had got into this 


TING-A-LING. 


35 


goodly company, and wlio was now seated in a 
crotch of the tree, very close to the rope by which 
the crowd was lowering the lady’s head. No one 
perceived him, for he was very much the color of 
the tree, and there he sat alone, quivering with 
spite and malice. 



At the moment the head touched the ivory neck, 
the Queen, uttering the magic word, dropped the 
end of the wand, and immediately the head ad¬ 
hered as firmly as of old. 




86 


TINGr-A-LING. 


But a wild sliout of horror rang through all the 
plain ! For, at the critical moment, the dwarf had 
reached out his hand, and twisted the rope, so 
that when the head was joined, it was wrong side 
foremost — face back ! 

Just then the little villain stuck his head out 
from behind the branch, and, giving a loud and 
mocking laugh of triumph, dropped from the tree. 
With a yell of anger the whole crowd, Queen, 
courtiers, common people, and all, set off in a mad 
chase after the dwarf, who fled like a stag before 
the hounds. 

All were gone but little Ting-a-ling, and when 
he saw the dreadful distress of poor Nerralina, 
who jumped up, and twisted around, and ran back¬ 
ward both ways, screaming for help, he stopped 
not a minute, but ran to where he had left the 
Giant, and told him, as fast as his breathing would 
allow, the sad story. 

Rubbing his eyes, Tur-il-i-ra perceived that it 
was nearly day, and concluded to commence oper¬ 
ations. He placed Ting-a-ling on his shirt-frill, 
where he could see what was going on, and, tak¬ 
ing about eleven strides, he came to where poor 
Nerralina was jumping about, and, picking her 
np, put her carefully into his coat-tail pocket. 


TING-A-LING. 


37 


Then, with the cheese in his hand, he walked 
slowly toward the palace. 

When he arrived there, he found the people 
running about, and crowding around the ruins of 
the Tower of Tears. He passed on, however, to 
the great Audience Chamber, and, looking in, saw 
the King sitting upon his throne behind a velvet- 
covered table, holding an early morning council, 
and receiving the reports of his officers concerning 
the damage. As this Hall, and the doors thereof, 
were of great size, the Giant walked in, stooping 
a little as he entered. 

He marched right up to the King, and held the 
cheese down before him. 

“ Here, your Majesty, is your daughter, and the 
young Prince, her lover. Does your Majesty rec¬ 
ognize them ?” 

“ Well, I declare ! ” cried the King. “ If that 
isn’t my great cheese, that I had put in the vault- 
flue to harden ! And my daughter and that young 
man in it! What does this mean ? What have 
you been doing, Giant ? ” 

Then Tur-il-i-ra related the substance of the 
whole affair in a very brief manner, and concluded 
by saying that he hoped to see them made man 
and wife, as he considered them under his protec- 


38 


TING-A-LING. 


tion, and intended to see them safely through this 
affair. And he held them up so that all the people 
who thronged into the Hall could see. 

The people all laughed, but the King cried 
“ Silence ! ” and said to the Giant, “ If the young 
man is of as good blood as my daughter, I have no 
desire to separate them. In fact, I don’t think I 
am separating them. I think it’s the cheese ! ” 

“ Come ! come ! ” said the Giant, turning very 
red in the face, “none of your trifling, or I’ll 
knock your house down over your eyes! ” 

And, putting the cheese down close to the table, 
he broke it in half, letting the lovers drop out on 
the velvet covering, when they immediately rushed 
into each other’s arms, and remained thus clasped 
for a length of time. 

They then slowly relinquished their hold upon 
each other, and were exchanging looks of supreme 
tenderness, when the Prince, happening to glance 
at his feet, sprang back so that he almost fell off* 
the long table, and shouted, — 

“ Blood ! Fire ! Thunder ! Where’s my boots P 
Boots ! Slaves! Hounds ! Get me my boots! 
boots!! boots! !! ” 

“ 0 ! lie’s a Prince! ” cried the King, jumping 
up. “ I want no further proof. He’s a Prince. 


















































TING-A-LING. 


41 


Give him boots. And blow, horners, blow! Beat 
your drums, drummers! Join hands all! Clear 
the floor for a dance ! ” 

And in a trice the floor was cleared, and about 
five thousand couples stood ready for the first note 
from the band. 

“ Hold up ! ” cried the Giant. “ Hold up ! here 
is one I forgot,” and he commenced feeling in his 
pockets. “ I know I have got her somewhere. 
0 yes, here she is ! ” and taking the Lady Nerra- 
lina from his coat-tail pocket, he put her carefully 
upon the table. 

Every face in the room was in an instant the 
picture of horror, — all but that of the little girl 
whose duty it was to fasten Nerralina’s dress every 
morning, — who got behind the door, and jump¬ 
ing up, and clapping her hands and heels, ex¬ 
claimed, “ Good ! good ! Now she can see to 
fasten her own frock behind ! ” 

The Prince was the first to move, and, with 
tears in his eyes, he approached the luckless lady, 
who was sobbing piteously. 

“ Poor thing! ” said he, and, putting his arm 
around her, he kissed her. What joy thrilled 
through Nerralina! She had never been kissed 
by a man before, and it did for her what such 


42 


TIN G-A-LIN G. 


things have done for many a young lady since — 
it turned her head ! 

“ Blow, horners, blow! ” shouted the King 
“ Join hands all! ” 

Seizing Nerralina’s hand, and followed by the 
Prince and Princess, who sprang from the table, 
he led off the five thousand couples in a grand 
gallopade. 

The Giant stood, and laughed heartily, until, 
at last, being no longer able to restrain himself, 
he sprang into the midst of them, and danced 
away royally, trampling about twenty couples un¬ 
der foot at every jump. 

“ Dance away, old fellow! ” shouted the King, 
from the other end of the room. “ Dance away, 
my boy, and never mind the people.” 

And the music blew louder, and round they all 
went faster and faster, until the building shook 
and trembled from the cellar to the roof. 

At length, perfectly exhausted, they all stopped, 
and Ting-a-ling, slipping down from the Giant’s 
frill, went out of the door. 

“ 0 ! ” said he, wiping the tears of laughter 
from his eyes, “it was all so funny, and every 
body was so happy — that — that I almost forgot 
my bereavement.” 


TING-A-LING AND TIJE FIVE MAGICIANS. 


Ting-a-ling, for some weeks after the death of 
his young companion, Ling-a-ting, seemed quite 
sad and dejected. He spent nearly all his time lying 
in a half-opened rose-bud, and thinking of the dear 
little creature who was gone. But one morning, 
the hud having become a full-blown rose, its petals 
fell apart, and dropped little Ting a-ling out on the 
grass. The sudden fall did not hurt him, hut it 
roused him to exertion, and he said, “ 0 ho! This 
will never do. I will go up to the palace, and see 
if there is anything going on.” So off he went 
to the great palace; and sure enough something 
was going on. He had scarcely reached the court¬ 
yard, when the hells began to ring, the horns to 
blow, the drums to heat, and crowds of people to 
shout and run in every direction, and there was 
never such a noise and hubbub before. 

Ting-a-ling slipped along close to the wall, so 
that he would not be stepped on by anybody; and 
having reached the palace^ he climbed up a long 



44 


TIN G-A-LIN G. 


trailing 1 vine, into one of the lower windows. There 
he saw the vast audience-chamber filled with peo¬ 
ple, shouting, and calling, and talking, all at once. 
The grand vizier was on the wide platform of the 
throne, making a. speech, but the uproar was so 
great that not one word of it could Ting-a-ling 
hear. The King himself was by his throne, put¬ 
ting on the bulky boots, which he only wore when 
he went to battle, and which made him look so 
terrible that a persou could hardly see him with¬ 
out trembling. The last time that he had worn 
those boots, as Ting-a-ling very well knew, he had 
made war on a neighboring country, and had de¬ 
feated all the armies, killed all the people, torn 
down all the towns and cities, and every house 
and cottage, and ploughed up the whole country, 
and sowed it with thistles, so that it could never 
be used as a country any more. So Ting-a-ling 
thought that as the King was putting on his war 
boots, something very great was surely about to 
happen. Hearing a fizzing noise behind him, he 
turned around, and there was the Prince in the 
court-yard, grinding his sword on a grindstone, 
which was turned by two slaves, who were working 
away so hard and fast that they were nearly ready 
to drop. Then he knew that wonderful things 


TING-A-LING and the five magicians. 45 

were surely coming* to pass, for in ordinary times 
the Prince never lifted his finger to do anything 
for himself. 

Just then, a little page, who had been sent for 
the King’s spurs, and couldn’t find them, and who 
was therefore afraid to go back, stopped to rest 



himself for a minute against the window where 
Ting-a-ling was standing. As his head just reached 
a little above the window-seat, Ting-a-ling went 
close to his ear and shouted to him, to please tell 
him what was the matter. The page started at 
first, but, seeing it was only a little fairy, he told 




46 


TING-A-LING. 


him that the Princess was lost, and that the whole 
arm} 7 was going out to find her. Before he could 
say anything more, the King was heard to roar for 
his spurs, and away ran the little page, whether to 
look again for the spurs, or to hide himself, is not 
known at the present day. Ting-a-ling now be¬ 
came very much excited. The Princess Aufalia, 
who had been married to the Prince but a month 
ago, was very dear to him, and he felt that he must 
do something for her. But while he was thinking 
what this something might possibly be, he heard 
the clear and distinct sound of a tiny bell, which, 
however, no one but a fairy could possibly have 
heard above all that noise. He knew it was the 
bell of the fairy Queen, summoning her subjects 
to her presence; and in a moment he slid down 
the vine, and scampered away to the gardens. 
There, although the sun was shining brightly, and 
the fairies seldom assembled but by night, there 
were great crowds of them, all listening to the 
Queen, and keeping* much better order than the 
people in the King’s palace. The Queen addressed 
them in soul-stirring strains, and urged every one 
to do their best to find the missing Princess. In 
the night she had been taken away, while the 
Prince and everybody were asleep. “ And now,” 


TING-A-LING ANI) THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 47 

said the Queen, untying- her scarf, and holding it 
up, “ away with you, every one! Search every 
house, garden, mountain, and plain, in the land, 
and the first one who comes to me with news of the 
Princess Aufalia, shall wear my scarf! ” And, as 
this was a mark of high distinction, and conveyed 
privileges of which there is no time now to tell, 
the fairies gave a great cheer (which would have 
sounded to you, had you heard it, like a puff of 
wind through a thicket of reeds), and they all 
rushed away in every direction. Now, though the 
fairies of this tribe could go almost anywhere, 
through small cracks and key-holes, under doors, 
and into places where no one else could possibly 
penetrate, they did not flv, or float in the air, or 
anything of that sort. When they wished to 
travel fast or far, they would mount on butterflies, 
and all sorts of insects; but /they seldom needed 
such assistance, as they werfc not in the habit of 
going far from their homes in the palace gardens. 
Ting-a-ling ran, as fast as he could, to where a 
friend of his, whom we have mentioned before, 
kept grasshoppers and butterflies to hire; but he 
found he was too late, — every one of them was 
taken by the fairies who had got there before him. 
'‘Never mind,” said Ting-a-ling to himself, “ I’ll 


48 


TING-A-LING. 


catch a wild one;” and, borrowing a bridle, he 
went out into the meadows, to catch a grasshopper 
for himself. He soon perceived one, quietly feed¬ 
ing under a clover-blossom. Ting-a-ling slipped 
up softly behind him ; but the grasshopper heard 
him, and rolled his big eyes backward, drawing in 
his hind-legs in the way which all bays know so 
well. “ VYhat’s the good of his seeing all around 
him?” thought Ting-a-ling; but there is no doubt 
that the grasshopper thought there was a great 
deal of good in it, for, just as Ting-a-ling made a 
rush at him, lie let fly with one of his hind-legs, 
and kicked our little friend so high into the air. 
that he thought he was never coming down again. 
He landed, however, harmlessly on the grass on 
the other side of a fence. Nothing discouraged, 
he jumped up, with his bridle still in his hand, and 
looked around for the grasshopper. There he was, 
with his eyes still rolled back, and his leg ready 
for another kick, should Ting-a-ling approach him 
again. But the little fellow had had enough of 
those strong legs, and so he slipped along the 
fence, and, getting through it, stole around in front 
of the grasshopper; and, while he was still look¬ 
ing backward with all his eyes, Ting-a-ling stepped 
quietly up before him, and slipped the bridle over 


TING—A—LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 49 


liis head! It was of no use for the grasshopper 
to struggle and pull back, for Ting-a-ling was 
astraddle of him in a moment, kicking him with 
his heels, and shouting “ Hi! Hi! ” 

Away sprang the grasshopper like a bird, and 
he sped on and on, faster than he had ever gone 
before in his life, and Ting-a-ling waved his little 
sword over his head, and shouted “ Hi ! Hi! ” 

So on they went for a long time; and in the 
afternoon the grasshopper began to get very tired, 
and did not make anything like such long jumps 
as lie had done at first. They were going down 
a grassy hill, and had just reached the bottom, 
when Ting-a-ling heard some one calling him. 
Looking around him in astonishment, he saw 
that it was a little fairy of his acquaintance, 
younger than himself, named Parsley, who was 
sitting in the shade of a wide-spreading dande¬ 
lion. 

“ Hello, Parsley ! ” cried Ting-a-ling, reining 
up. “ What are you doing there ? ” 

“ Why you see, Ting-a-ling,” said the other, 
“ I came out to look for the Princess ” — 

“ You ! ” cried Ting-a-ling ; <c a little fellow 
like you! ” 

“ Yes, 7 / ” said Parsley; “ and Sourgrass and 

4 


50 


TING-A-LING. 


I rode the same butterfly; but by the time we 
had come this far, we got too heavy, and Sour- 
grass made me get off.” 

“And what are you going to do now?” said 
Ting-a-ling. 

“ 0, I’m all right! ” replied Parsley. “ I shall 
have a butterfly of my own soon.” 

“ How’s that ? ” asked Ting-a-ling, quite curi¬ 
ous to know. 

“ Come here ! ” said Parsley; and so Ting-a- 
ling got off his grasshopper, and led it up close 
to his friend. “ See what I’ve found ! ” said 
Parsley, showing a cocoon that lay beside him. 
“ I’m going to wait till this butterfly’s hatched, 
and I shall have him the minute he comes out.” 

The idea of waiting for the butterfly to be 
hatched, seemed so funny to Ting-a-ling, that he 
burst out laughing, and Parsley laughed too, and 
so did the grasshopper, for he took this opportu¬ 
nity to slip his head out of the bridle, and away 
he went! 

Ting-a-ling turned and gazed in amazement at 
the grasshopper skipping up the hill; and Pars¬ 
ley, when he had done laughing, advised him 
to hunt around for another cocoon, and follow bis 
example. 


TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 51 

Ting-a-ling did not reply to this advice, but 
throwing his bridle to Parsley, said, cc There, you 
would better take that. You may want it when 
your butterfly’s hatched. I shall push on.” 

“ What! walk P ” cried Parsley. 

“ Yes, walk,” said Ting-a-ling. “ Good-by.” 

So Ting-a-ling travelled on by himself for the 
rest of the day, and it was nearly evening when 
he came to a wide brook with beautiful green 
banks, and overhanging trees. Here he sat down 
to rest himself; and while he was wondering 
if it would be a good thing for him to try to get 
across, he amused himself by watching the sports 
and antics of various insects and fishes that 
were enjoying themselves that fine summer even¬ 
ing. Plenty of butterflies and dragon-flies were 
there, but Ting-a-ling knew that he could never 
catch one of them, for they were nearly all the 
time over the surface of the water; and many a 
big fish was watching them from below, hoping 
that in their giddy flights, some of them would 
come near enough to be snapped down for supper. 
There were spiders, who shot over the surface 
of the brook as if they had been skating; and 
all sorts of beautiful bugs and flies were there, 
•— green, yellow, emerald, gold, and black. At a 


52 


TIN G-A-LTNCr. 


short distance, Ting-a-ling saw a crowd of little 
minnows, who had caught a young tadpole, and, 
having tied a bluebell to his tail, were now chas¬ 
ing the affrighted creature about. But after a 
while the tadpole’s mother came out, and then 
the minnows caught it ! 

While watching all these lively creatures, Ting- 
a-ling fell asleep, and when he awoke, it was dark 
night. He jumped up, and looked about him. 
The butterflies and dragon-flies had all gone to 
bed, and now the great night-bugs and buzzing 
beetles were out; the katydids were chirping in 
the trees, and the frogs were croaking among 
the long reeds. Not far off, on the same side of 
the brook, Ting-a-ling saw the light of a fire, 
and so he walked over to see what it meant. On 
his way, he came across some wild honeysuckles, 
and, pulling one of the blossoms, he sucked out 
the sweet juice for his supper, as he walked along. 
When he reached the fire, he saw sitting around 
it five men, with turbans and great black beards. 
Ting-a-ling instantly perceived that they were 
magicians, and, putting the honeysuckle to his 
lips, he blew a little tune upon it, which the 
magicians hearing, they said to one another, 
“There is a fairy near us.” Then Ting-a-ling 


TING-A-LrNG AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 53 

came into the midst of them, and, climbing np on 
a pile of cloaks and shawls, conversed with them ; 
and he soon heard that they knew, by means of 
their magical arts, that the Princess had been 
stolen the night before, by the slaves of a wicked 
dwarf, and that she was now locked up in his 



castle, which was on top of a high mountain, not 
far from where they then were. 

“ I shall go there right off,” said Ting-a-ling. 
“And what will you do when you get there?” 
said the youngest magician, whose name was 
Zamcar. “ This dwarf is a terrible little fellow, 



54 


TING-A-LING. 


and the same one who twisted poor Nerralina’s 
head, which circumstance of course you remem¬ 
ber. He has numbers of fierce slaves, and a great 
castle. You are a good little fellow, but I don’t 
think you could do much for the Princess, if you 
did go to her.” 

Ting-a-ling reflected a moment, and then said 
that he would go to his friend, the Giant Tur- 
il-i-ra; but Zamcar told him that that tremendous 
individual had gone to the uttermost limits of 
China, to launch a ship. It was such a big one, 
and so heavy, that it had sunk down into the earth 
as tight as if it had grown there, and all the men 
and horses in the country could not move it. So 
there was nothing to do but to send for Tur-il-i-ra. 
When Ting-a-ling heard this, he was disheart¬ 
ened, and hung his little head. £C The best thing 
to do,” remarked AlcahazaV, the oldest of the 
magicians, “ would be to inform the King and 
his army of the place where the Princess is con¬ 
fined, and let them go and take her out.” 

“ 0 no ! ” cried Ting-a-ling, who, if his body 
was no larger than a very small pea-pod, had a 
soul as big as a water-melon. “ If the King 
knows it, up he will come with all his drums and 
horns, and the dwarf will hear him a mile off, 


TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 55 

and either kill the Princess, or hide her away. 
If we were all to go to the castle, I should think 
we could do something ourselves.” This was the 
longest speech that Ting-a-ling had ever made; 
and when he was through, the youngest magician 
said to the others that he thought it w^as growing 
cooler, and the others agreed that it was. After 
some conversation among themselves in an exceed¬ 
ingly foreign tongue, these kind magicians agreed 
to go up to the castle, and see what they could 
do. So Zamcar put Ting-a-ling in the folds of 
his turban, and the whole party started off for 
the dwarf’s castle. They looked like a company 
of travelling merchants, each one having a pack¬ 
age on his back and a great staff in his hand. 
When they reached the outer gate of the castle, 
Alcahazar, the oldest, knocked at it with his 
stick, and it was opened at once by a shiny black 
slave, who, coming out, shut it behind him, and 
inquired wdiat the travellers wanted. 

“ Is your master within ? ” asked Alcahazar. 

“ I don’t know,” said the slave. 

“ Can’t you find out? ” asked the magician. 

“ Well, good merchant, perhaps I might; but 
I don’t particularly want to know,” said the slave, 
as he leaned hack against the gate, leisurely strik- 


56 


TING-A-LING. 


mg with liis long sword at the night-bugs and 
beetles that were buzzing about. 

“ My friend,” said Alcaliazar, “ don’t you think 
that is rather a careless way of using a sword P 
You might cut somebody.” 

“ That’s true,” said the slave. “ I didn’t think 
of it before;” but he kept on striking away, all 
the same. 

“ Then stop it! ” said Alcahazar, the oldest 
magician, striking the sword from his hand with 
one blow of his staff. Upon this, up stepped 
Ormanduz, the next oldest, and whacked the slave 
over his head ; and then Malialla, the next oldest, 
struck him over the shoulders; and Akbeck, the 
next oldest, cracked him on the shins; and Zam- 
car, the youngest, punched him in the stomach; 
and the slave sat down, and begged the noble 
merchants to please stop. So they stopped, and 
he humbly informed them that his master was in. 

“ We would see him,” said Alcahazar. 

“ But, sirs,” said the slave, “ he is having a 
grand feast.” 

“ Well,” said the magician, “ we’re invited.” 

“ 0 noble merchants ! ” cried the slave, “ why 
did you not tell me that before?” and he opened 
wide the gate, and let them in. After they had 


TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 57 


passed the outer gate, which was of wood, they 
went through another of iron, and another of 
brass, and another of copper, aud then walked 
through the court-yard, filled with armed slaves, 
and up the great castle steps; at the top of which 
stood the butler, dressed in gorgeous array. 

“Whom have you here, base slave?” cried the 
gorgeous butler. 

“ Five noble merchants, invited to my lord’s 
feast,” said the slave, bowing to the ground. 

“ But they cannot enter the banqueting hall in 
such garbs,” said the butler. “ They cannot be 
noble merchants, if they come not nobly dressed 
to my lord’s feast.” 

“ O sir! ” said Alcahazar, “ may your delicate 
and far-reaching understanding be written in 
books, and taught to youth in foreign lands, and 
may your profound judgment ever overawe your 
country! But allow us now to tell you that we 
have gorgeous dresses in these our packs. Would 
we soil them with the dust of travel, ere we en¬ 
tered the halls of my lord the dwarf? ” 

The butler bowed low at this address, and caused 
the five magicians to be conducted to five magnifi¬ 
cent chambers, where were slaves, and lights, and 
baths, and soap, and towels, and wash-rags, and 


58 


T1NG-A-LING. 


tooth-bruslies; and each magician took a gorgeous 
dress from his pack, and put it on, and then they 
were all conducted (with Ting-a-ling still in Zam- 
car’s turban) to the grand hall, where the feast was 
being held. Here they found the dwarf and his 
guests, numbering a hundred, having a truly jolly 
time. The dwarf, who was dressed in white (to 
make him look larger), was seated on a high red 
velvet cushion at the end of the hall, and the com¬ 
pany sat cross-legged on rugs, in a great circle 
before him. He was drinking out of a huge bot¬ 
tle nearly as big as himself, and eating little birds; 
and judging by the bones that were left, he must 
have eaten nearly a whole flock of them. When 
he saw the five magicians entering, he stopped 
eating, and opened his eyes in amazement, and 
then shouted to liis servants to tell him who these 
people were, who came without permission to his 
feast; but as no one knew, nobody answered. The 
guests, seeing the stately demeanor and magnifi¬ 
cent dresses of the visitors, thought that they were 
at least five great monarchs. 

“My lord the dwarf,” said Alcahazar, advancing 
toward him, “ I am the king of a far country; and 
passing your castle, and hearing of your feast, I 
have made bold to come and offer you some of the 


TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 513 

sweet-tasting 1 birds of my kingdom.” So saying, 
be lifted up liis richly embroidered cloak, and 
took from under it a great silver dish containing 
about two hundred dozen hot, smoking, delicately 
cooked, fat little birds. Under the dish were fast¬ 
ened lamps of perfumed oil, all lighted, and keep¬ 
ing the savory food nice and hot. Making a low 
bow, the magician placed the dish before the 
dwarf, who tasted one of the birds, and immedi¬ 
ately clapped his hands with joy. “ Great King! ” 
he cried, “ welcome to my feast! Slaves, quick ! 
make room for the great king! ” As there was no 
vacant place, the slaves took hold of one of the 
guests, and gave him what the boys would call a 
“ hist,” right through the window, and Alcaliazar 
took his place. Then stepped forward Ormanduz, 
and said, “ My lord the dwarf, I am also the king 
of a far country, and I have made bold to offer you 
some of the wine of my kingdom.” So saying, he 
lifted his gold-lined cloak, and took from beneath 
it a crystal decanter, covered with gold and ruby 
ornaments, with one hundred and one beautifully 
carved silver goblets hanging from its neck, and 
which contained about eleven gallons of the most 
delicious wine. He placed it before the dwarf, who, 
having tasted the wine, gave a great cheer, and 


CO 


TING-A-LING. 


shouted to his slaves to make room for this mighty 
king. So the slaves took another guest by the 
neck and heels, and sent him, slam-bang, through 
the window, and Ormanduz took his place. Then 
stepped forward Mahallah, and said, “My lord the 
dwarf, I am also the king of a far country, and I 
bring you a sample of the venison of my kingdom.” 
So saying, he raised his velvet cloak, trimmed with 
diamouds, and took from under it a whole deer, 
already cooked, and stuffed with oysters, auchovies, 
buttered toast, olives, tamarind seeds, sweet-mar¬ 
joram, sage, and many other herbs and spices, and 
all piping hot, and smelling deliciously. This he 
put down before the dwarf, who, when he had 
tasted it, waved his goblet over his head, and cried 
out to the slaves to make room for this mighty 
king. So the slaves seized another guest, and out 
of the window, like a shot, he went, and Mahallah 
took his place. Then Akbeck stepped up, and said, 
“ My lord the dwarf, I am also the king of a far 
country, and I bring you some of the confections 
of my dominions.” So saying, he took from uu- 
der his cloak of gold cloth, a great basket of sil¬ 
ver filagree work, in which were cream-chocolates, 
and burnt almonds, and sponge-cake, and lady’s 
fingers, and mixtures, and gingernuts, and hoar 


TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 61 

hound candy, and gum-drops, and fruit-cake, ami 
cream candy, and mintstick, and pound-cake, and 
rock candy, and butter taffy, and many other con¬ 
fections, amounting in all to about two hundred 
and twenty pounds. He placed the basket before 
the dwarf, who tasted some of these good things, 
and found them so delicious, that he lay on his 
back and kicked up his heels in delight, shouting 
to his slaves to make room for this great king. 
As the next guest was a big, fat man, too heavy tu 
throw far, he was seized by four slaves, who walked 
him Spanish right out of the door, and Akbeck 
took his place. Then Zamcar stepped forward and 
said, “ My lord the dwarf, I also am king of a far 
country, and T bring you some of the fruit of my 
dominions.” And so saying, he took from beneath 
his gold and purple cloak, a great basket filled 
with currants as big as grapes, and grapes as big 
as plums, and plums as big as peaches, and peaches 
as big as cantaloupes, and cantaloupes as big as 
water-melons, and water-melons as big as barrels. 
There w r ere about nineteen bushels of them alto¬ 
gether, and he put them before the dwarf, who, 
having tasted some of them, clapped his hands, 
and shouted to his slaves to make room for this 
mighty king; but as the next guest had very sen- 


62 


TING-A-LING. 


sibly got up and gone out, Zamcar took his seat 
without any delay. Then Ting-a-ling, who was 
very much excited by all these wonderful perform¬ 
ances, slipped down out of Zamcar’s turban, and, 
running up towards the dwarf, cried out, “ My 
lord the dwarf, I am also the king of a'far coun¬ 
try, and I bring you ” — and he lifted up his little 
cloak; but as there was nothing there, he said no 
more, but clambered up into Zamcar’s turban 
again. As nobody noticed or heard him, so great 
was the bustle and noise of the festivity, his speech 
made no difference one way or the other. After 
everybody had eaten and drunk until they could 
eat and drink no more, the dwarf jumped up and 
called to the chief butler, to know how many beds 
were prepared for the guests; to which the butler 
answered that there were thirty beds prepared. 
“ Then,” said the dwarf, “ give these five noble 
kings each one of the best rooms, with a down bed, 
and a silken comfortable; and give the other beds 
to the twenty-five biggest guests. As to the rest, 
turn them out! ” So the dwarf went to bed, and 
each of the magicians had a splendid room, and 
twenty-five of the biggest guests had beds, and the 
rest were all turned out. As it was pouring down 
rain, and freezing, and cold, and wet, and slippery 


TING-A-LING AND THE FTVE MAGICIANS. 


(for the weather was very unsettled on this moun¬ 
tain), and all these guests, who now found them¬ 
selves outside of the castle gates, lived many miles 
away, and as none of them had any hats, or knew 
the way home, they were very miserable indeed. 



Alcahazar did not go to bed, but sat in his room 
and reflected. He saw that the dwarf had given 
this feast on account of his joy at having captured 
the Princess, and thus caused grief to the King 
and Prince, and all the people; but it was also 
evident that he was very sly, and had not men¬ 
tioned the matter to any of the company. The 








04 


TING-A-LING. 


other magicians did not go to bed either, but sat 
in their rooms, and thought the same thing ; and 
Ting-a-ling, in Zamcar’s turban, was of exactly 
the same opinion. So, in about an hour, when all 
was still, the magicians got up, and went softly 
over the castle. One went down into the lower 
rooms, and there were all the slaves, fast asleep; 
and another into one wing of the castle, and there 
were half the guests, fast asleep ; and another into 
the other wing, and there were the rest of the 
guests, fast asleep; and Alcaliazar went into the 
dwarf’s room, in the centre of the castle, and 
there was lie, fast asleep, with one of his fists shut 
tight. The magician touched liis fist with his 
magic statf, audit immediately opened, and there 
was a key! So Alcahazar took the key, and shut 
up the dwarf’s hand again. Zamcar went up to 
the floor, near the top of the house, and entered 
a large room, which was empty, but the walls were 
hung with curtains made of snakes’ skins, beauti¬ 
fully woven together. Ting-a-ling slipped down 
to the floor, and, peeping behind these curtains, 
saw the hinge of a door; and without saying a 
word, he got behind the curtain; aud, sure enough, 
there was a door ! and there was a key-hole ! and 
in a minute, there was Ting-a-ling right through 


TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS 65 

it! and there was the Princess in a chair in the 
middle of a great room, crying as if her heart 
would break ! By the light of the moon, which 
had now broken through the clouds, Ting-a-ling 
saw that she was tied fast to the chair. So he 
climbed up on her shoulder, and called her by 
name; and when the Princess heard him and knew 
him, she took him into her lovely hands, and kissed 
him, and cried over him, and laughed over him so 
much, that her joy had like to have been the death 
of him. When she got over her excitement, she 
told him how she had been stolen away; how she 
had heard her favorite cat squeak in the middle of 
the night, and how she had got up quickly to go 
to it, supposing it had been squeezed in some 
door, and how the wicked dwarf, who had been 
imitating the cat, was just outside the door with 
his slaves; and how they had seized her, and 
bound her, and carried her off to this castle, 
without waking up any of the King’s household. 
Then Ting-a-ling told her that his five friends 
were there, and that they were going to see what 
they could do; and the Princess was very glad to 
hear that, you may be sure. Then Ting-a-ling 
slipped down to the floor, and through the key¬ 
hole ; and as he entered the room where he had 


5 


66 


TIN G-A-LIN G. 


left Zamcar, in came Alcahazar with the key, 
and the other magicians with news that every¬ 
body was asleep. When Ting-a-ling had told 
about the Princess, Alcahazar pushed aside the 
curtains, unlocked the door with the key, and 
they all entered the next room. 

There, sure enough, was the Princess Aufalia; 
hut, right in front of her, on the floor, squatted 
the dwarf, who had missed his key, and had 
slipped up by a back way ! The magicians started 
back on seeing him; the Princess was crying 
bitterly, and Ting-a-ling ran past the dwarf (who 
was laughing too horribly to notice him), and 
climbing upon the Princess’s shoulder, sat there 
among her curls, and did his best to comfort her. 

“ Anyway,” said he, “ I shall not leave you 
again,” and he drew his little sword, and felt as 
big as a house. The magicians now advanced 
towards the dwarf; hut he, it seems, was a bit of 
a magician himself, for he waved a little wand, 
and instantly a strong partition of iron wire rose 
up out of the floor, and, reaching from one wall to 
the other, separated him completely from the five 
men. The magicians no sooner saw this, than 
they cried out, “ 0 ho ! Mr. Dwarf, is that your 
game ? ” 


TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 67 

“ Yes,” said the little wretch, chuckling; “can 
foil play at it? ” 

“ A little,” said they; and each one pulled 
from under his cloak a long file; and filing the 
partition from the wall on each side, which only 
needed a few strokes from their sharp files, they 
pulled it entirely down. But before the magi¬ 
cians could reach him, the dwarf again waved his 
wand, and a great chasm opened in the floor 
before them, which was too wide to jump over, 
and so deep that the bottom could not he seen. 

“ O ho ! ” cried the magicians; “ another game, 
eh ! ” 

“Yes indeed,” cried the dwarf. “Just let me 
see you play at that” 

Each of the magicians then took from under 
his magic cloak a long board, and, putting them 
over the chasm, they began to walk across them. 
But the dwarf jumped up and waved his wand, 
and water commenced to fall on the boards, where 
it immediately froze; and they were so slippery, 
that the magicians could hardly keep their feet, 
and could not make one step forward. Even 
standing still, they came very near falling off into 
he chasm below. “I suppose you can play at 
that,” said the dwarf; and the magicians replied, 


68 


TING-A-LING. 


“ 0 yes! ” and each one took from under his 
cloak a pan of ashes, and sprinkled the boards, 
and walked right over. But before they reached 
the other edge, the dwarf pushed the chair, which 
was on rollers, up against the wall behind him, 
which opened; and instantly the Princess, Ting- 



a-ling, and the dwarf disappeared, and the wall 
closed up. Without saying a word, the magicians 
each drew from beneath his cloak a pickaxe, and 
they cut a hole in the wall in a few minutes. 
There was a large room on the other side, but it 
was entirely empty. So they sat down, and got 






TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 69 

out their magical calculators, and soon discovered 
that the Princess was in the lowest part of the 
castle; but the magical calculators being a little 
out of order, they could not show exactly her 
place of confinement. Then the five hurried 
down-stairs, where they found the slaves still 
asleep; but one poor little boy, whose business it 
was to get up early every morning and split kin¬ 
dling wood, having had none of the feast,, was 
not very sleepy, and woke up when he heard foot¬ 
steps near him. The magicians asked him if he 
could show them to the lowest part of the castle. 
u All right,” said he ; “ this way; ” and he led 
them to where there was a great black hole, with 
a windlass over it. “ Get in the bucket,” said he, 
“ and I will lower you down.” 

“ Bucket! ” cried Alcahazar. “ Is that a well P ” 

“ To be sure it is,” said the boy, who had noth¬ 
ing on but the baby-clothes he had worn ever 
since he was born; and which, as he was now 
about ten years old, had split a good deal in the 
back and arms, but in length they were very 
suitable. 

“ But there can be no one down there,” said 
the magician. “ I see deep water.” 

“ Of course there is nobody there,” replied the 


70 


TING-A-LING. 


boy. “ Were you told to go down there to meet 
anybody ? Because, if you were, you "had bet¬ 
ter take some tubs down with you, to sit in. But 
all I know about it is, that it’s the lowest part of 
this old hole of a castle.” 

“ Boy,” said Alcaliazar, “ there is a young lady 
shut up down here somewhere. Do you know 
where she is ? ” 

“ How old is she ? ” asked the boy. 

“ About seventeen,” said the magician. 

44 0 then! if she is no older than that, I should 
think she’d be in the preserve-closet, if she knew 
where it was,” and the boy pointed to a great 
door, barred and locked, where the dwarf, who 
had a very sweet tooth, kept all his preserves 
locked up tight and fast. Zamcar stooped and 
looked through the key-hole of this door, and 
there, sure enough, was the Princess ! So the boy 
proved to be smarter than all the magicians. 
Each of our five friends now took from under 
his cloak a crowbar, and in a minute they had 
forced open the great door. But they had scarcely 
entered, when the dwarf, springing on the arm of 
the chair to which the Princess was still tied, drew 
his sword, and clapped it to her throat, crying 
out, that if the magicians came one step nearer, 
nc would slice her head off. 


TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 71 


“ 0 ho ! ” cried they, “ is that your game ? ” 

“Yes indeed,” said the chuckling dwarf; “can 
you play at it 9 ” 

The magicians did not appear to think that 
they could; but Ting-a-ling, who was still on the 
Princess’s shoulder, though unseen by the dwarf, 
suddenly shouted, “ I can play ! ” and in an instant 
lie had driven his little sword into the dwarf’s 
eye, who immediately sprang from the chair with 
a howl of anguish. While he was yelling and 
skipping about, with his hands to his eyes, the 
poor boy, who hated him worse than pills, clapped 
a great jar of preserves over him, and sat down 
on the bottom of the jar! The magicians then 
untied the Princess; and as she looked weak and 
faint, Zamcar, the youngest, took from under his 
cloak a little table, set with everything hot and 
nice for supper; and when the Princess had eaten 
something and taken a cup of tea, she felt a great 
deal better. Alcahazar lifted up the jar from the 
dwarf, and there was the little rascal, so covered 
up with sticky jam, that he could not speak and 
could hardly move. So, taking an oil-cloth bag 
from under his cloak, Alcahazar dropped the dwarf 
into it, and tied it up, and hung it to his girdle. 
The two youngest magicians made a sort of chair 


72 


TING-A-LING. 


out of a shawl, and they carried the Princess on 
it between them, very comfortably ; and as Ting- 
a-ling still remained on her shoulder, she began 
to feel that things were beginning to look brighter. 
They then asked the poor boy what he would like 
best as a reward for what he had done; and lie 
said that if they would shut him up in that room, 
and lock the door tight, and lose the key, he 
would be happy all the days of his life. So they 
left the boy (who knew what was good, and was 
already sucking away at a jar of preserved green¬ 
gages) in the room, and they shut the door and 
locked it tight, and lost the key; and he lived 
there for ninety-one years, eating preserves; and 
when they were all gone, he died. All that time 
he never had any clothes but his baby-clothes, 
and they got pretty sticky before his death. Then 
our party left the castle; and as they passed the 
slaves still fast asleep, the three oldest magicians 
took from under their cloaks watering-pots, filled 
with water that makes men sleep, and they watered 
the slaves with it, until they were wet enough to 
sleep a week. When they went through the gates 
of copper, brass, iron, and wood, they left them 
all open behind them. They had not gone far 
before they saw seventy-five men, all sitting in a 















































TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 75 

row at the side of the road, and looking wofully 
indeed. They had been wet to the skin, and were 
now frozen stiff, not one of them being able to 
move anything but his eyelids, and they were all 
crying as if their hearts would break. So the 
magicians stopped, and the three oldest each took 
from under his cloak a pair of bellows, and they 
blew hot air on the poor creatures until they were 
all thawed. Then Alcahazar told them to go up 
to the castle, and take it for their own, and live 
there all the rest of their lives. He informed 
them that the dwarf was his prisoner, and that 
the slaves would sleep for a week. 

When the seventy-five guests (for those who had 
been taken from the feast, had joined their com¬ 
rades) heard this, they all started up, and ran like 
deer for the castle; and when they reached it, they 
woke up their comrades, and took possession, and 
lived there all their lives. The man who had been 
first thrown through the window, and who had 
broken the way through the glass for the others, 
was elected their chief, because he had suffered the 
most; and excepting the trouble of doing their 
own work for a week, until the slaves awoke, these 
people were very happy ever afterwards. 

It was just daylight when our party left the 


76 


TING—A—LING. 


dwarf’s castle, and by the next evening they bad 
reached the palace. The army had not got back, 
and there was no one there but the ladies of the 
Princess. When these saw their dear mistress, 
there was never before such a kissing, and hug¬ 
ging, and crying, and laughing. Ting-a-ling came 
in for a good share of praise and caressing; and 
if he had not slipped away to tell his tale to the 
fairy Queen, there is no knowing what would have 
become of him. The magicians sat down outside 
of the Princess’s apartments, to guard her until 
the army should return; and the ladies would 
have kissed and hugged them, in their gratitude 
and joy, if they had not been such dignified and 
grave personages. 

Now, the King, the Prince, and the great army, 
had gone miles and miles away in the opposite 
direction to the dwarf’s castle, and the Princess and 
her ladies could not think how to let them know 
what had happened. As for ringing the great bell, 
they knew that that would be useless, for they would 
never hear it at the distance they were, and so they 
wished that they had some fireworks to set off. 
Therefore Zamcar, the youngest magician, offered 
to go up to the top of the palace and set off some. 
So, when he got up to the roof, he lifted up his 


TING-A-LIXG AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 77 


cloak, and took out some fireworks, and set thorn 
off; and the light shone for miles and miles, and 
the King and all his army saw it. The King had 
just begun to feel tired, and to think that he would 
pitch his tent, and rest for the night by the side 
of a pleasant stream they had reached, when he 
saw the light from the palace, and instantly knew 
that there had been tidings of the Princess,— 
kings are so smart, you know. So, when his slaves 
came to ask him where they should pitch his tent, 
he shouted, “ Pitch it iu the river! ’ Tention, 

army! Right about face, for home, — maech ! ” 
and away the whole army marched for home, the 
baud playing the lively air of 

“ Cream cakes for supper, 

Heigh O! Heigh 0! 

0! Cream cakes for supper, 

Heigh O! Heigh 0!” — 

so as to keep up the spirits of the tired men. 
When they approached the palace, which was all 
lighted up, there was the Princess standing at the 
great door, in her Sunday clothes, and looking 
as lovely as a full-blown rose. The King jumped 
from his high-mettled racer, and went up the steps, 
two at a time ; but the Prince, springing from his 
fiery steed, bounded up three steps at once, and 


78 


TING-A-LING. 


got there first. When he and the King had got 
through hugging and kissing the Princess, her 
Sunday clothes looked as if they had been worn a 
week. 

“Now then for supper,” said the King, “ and I 
hope it’s ready.” But the Princess said never a 



word, for she had forgotten all about supper; and 
ail the ladies hung their heads, and were afraid to 
speak. But when they reached the great hall, they 
found that the magicians had been at work, and had 
cooked a grand supper. There it was, on ever so 
many long tables, all smoking hot, and smelling 











TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 79 

delightfully. So they all sat down, for there was 
room enough for every man, and nobody said a 
word until he was as tight as a drum. 

When they had all had enough, and were just 
about to begin to talk, there were heard strains of 
the most delightful soft, music; and directly, in at 
a window came the Queen of the fairies, attended 
by her court, all mounted on beautiful golden 
moths and dragon-flies. When they reached the 
velvet table in front of the throne, where the King 
had been eating, with his plate on his lap, they 
arranged themselves in a circle on the table, and 
the Queen spoke out in a clear little voice, that 
could have been heard almost anywhere, and an¬ 
nounced to the King that the little Ting-a-ling, 
who now wore her royal scarf, was the preserver 
of his daughter. 

u 0 ho! ” said the King; “and what can I do 
for such a mite as you, my fine little fellow? ” 

Then Ting-a-ling, who wanted nothing for him¬ 
self, and only thought of the good of his people, 
made a low bow to the King, and shouted at the 
top of his voice, “ Your royal gardeners are going 
to make asparagus beds all over our fairy pleasure 
grounds. If you can prevent that, I have nothing 
more to ask.’* 


80 


TIN G-A-LLN 1 G. 


tc Blow, Horner, blow ! ” cried the King, “ and 
hear, all men! If any man, woman, or child, 
from this time henceforward forever, shall dare to 
set foot in the garden now occupied by the fairies, 
he shall be put to death, he and all his family, and 
his relations, as far as they can be traced. Take 
notice of that, every one of you ! ” 

Ting-a-ling then bowed his thanks, and all the 
people made up their minds to take very particular 
notice of what the King had said. 

Then the magicians were ordered to come for¬ 
ward and name their reward ; but they bowed their 
heads, and simply besought the King that he would 
grant them seven rye straws, the peeling from a 
red apple, and the heel from one of his old slip¬ 
pers. What in the name of common sense they 
wanted with these, no one but themselves knew; 
but magicians are such strange creatures ! When 
these valuable gifts had been bestowed upon them, 
the five good magicians departed, leaving the 
dwarf for the King to do what he pleased with. 
This little wretch was shut up in an iron cage, 
and every day was obliged to eat three codfish, a 
bushel of Irish potatoes, and eleven pounds of bran 
crackers, and to drink a gallon of cambric tea; all 
of which things he despised from the bottom of 
his miserable little heart. 


TING-A-LING AND THE FIVE MAGICIANS. 81 

“ ^ow,” cried the King, “all is settled, and let 
everybody go to bed. There is room enough in 
the palace for all to sleep to-night. Form in 
line, and to bed, — march ! ” So they all formed 
in line, and begau to march to bed, to the music 
of the band; and the fairies, their little horns 



blowing, and with Ting-a-ling at the post of honor 
by the Queen, took up their line of march, out of 
the window to the garden, which was to be, hence¬ 
forward forever, their own. Just as they were all 
filing out, in flew little Parsley on the back of his 
butterfly, which had been hatched out at last. 
















82 


TING-A-LING. 


“ Hello! ” cried he. “ Is it all over? ” 
u Pretty nearly,” said Ting-a-ling. “It’s just 
letting out. How came you to be so late ? ” 
c * Easy enough,” said poor little Parsley. “ Of 
all the mean things that ever was the pokiest long 
time in unwrapping its wings, this butterfly’s the 
meanest.” 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


There was once an excessively mighty King, 
Barradin the Great, who died, leaving no sons or 
daughters, or any relation on the face of the earth, 
to inherit his crown. So his throne, at the time 
of which I write, was vacant. This mighty King 
had been of a very peculiar disposition. Unlike 
other potentates, he took no delight in going to 
war, or in cutting off people’s heads, or in getting 
married, or building palaces. But he was a great 
musician. All that he cared for, seemed to be 
music; and the whole of his leisure time, with a 
great many of his business hours, was occupied in 
either composing or performing music of some 
kind. Everybody around him was obliged to be 
musical; and if one was not so, it would be of 
no use for him to apply for any situation. His 
Prime Minister played on the violin, his Secretary 
performed on the horn, while his Treasurer was su¬ 
perb upon the great drum. Every time the Royal 
Council met, the minutes of the last meeting, all 



84 


TING-A-LING. 


set to music, were sung by the Secretary; and 
when the King made a speech, he always sung it 
in a magnificent bass voice, accompanied by a full 
orchestra. If any one wished to present a peti¬ 
tion, he was always sure of having it granted, if 
he could but sing it excellently well, and even folks 
who were good at whistling were favorably received 
at court. The example of the King was followed 
by the people. They nearly always talked to some 
tune, and every one but the very poorest owned 
an instrument. 

So this mighty monarch never went to war, or 
cut off people’s heads, or married more than once; 
and as for building palaces, it was of no use, for 
he had as many as he wanted, already. The last 
ten years of his life were occupied, almost entirely, 
in the composition of a wonderful piece of music, 
in which he sought, by means of perseverance and 
magic, to combine all the beauties and difficulties 
of the science. He had scarcely finished it, when 
he died; and it was generally supposed that if he 
had not worked so hard at it, he would have lived 
much longer. 

The composition was not long, for you could 
have sung it in ten minutes, that is, if you could 
have sung it at all; which is by no means likely, 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


85 


for had that been the case (and you had lived in 
those days) you might have ruled over the coun¬ 
try. For, just before the mighty King died, he 
made a decree to this effect,—that his successor 
on the throne should be the man, woman, or child 
who could, at sight, sing that piece of music. 

So the music was put up against a marble tablet 
in the great hall of the royal palace, and there 
were six judges appointed,—the most distin¬ 
guished professors of music in the country, — and 
these sat on great velvet chairs, three on each side 
of the music, and anybody might come to try who 
chose. 

You may well believe that the people came in 
crowds, for nearly every one wished to be king or 
queen, as the case might be. This music had a 
very singular effect upon most of those who did 
not succeed in singing it. They nearly all went 
crazy. The first few notes were easy, and they 
were so beautiful, that it was enough to make any 
one crazy to think that they could not sing the 
rest of it, — not to mention missing the crown. 
The Prime Minister had, on this account, a great 
asylum built, to which the disappointed candidates 
ivere immediately conveyed, and the house was 
very soon filled. Indeed, it was often necessary to 


86 


TING-A-LING. 


build extensions to the main building, and it was 
not long before this was the largest edifice in the 
country. It is true, that although every one failed 
to sing the music, they did not all go crazy; but 
they were taken to the asylum the same as the 
rest, and if they were not crazy when they got 
there, they soon became so, and thus it amounted 
to pretty much the same thing in the end. Well, 
the judges sat in their chairs until they died at a 
good old age, and they were succeeded by others 
just as learned. Latterly there were not so many 
applications as there used to be, but still, every 
few days, some one went out to the asylum. Years 
passed, and the offices of the judges became sine¬ 
cures; but they had to sit there all the same, just 
as if they expected to be busy; and they might 
have been seen, whenever anybody chose to step 
in during the day, sitting there with their chins 
on their breasts, fast asleep. The Prime Minister, 
and after him his son, ruled the country very well, 
and people began to feel as if they didn’t care if 
they never had a king or a queen to govern them. 
As a rule, they all felt very comfortable without 
anything of the kind. 

Now it so happened that about this time a cer¬ 
tain young Prince, accompanied by an old gentle- 
























































THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


89 


man (to take care of him), was travelling in this 
great kingdom. His father’s dominion was very 
many miles away; but the Prince had been jour¬ 
neying in this direction for quite a long time, 
taking things easily, and seeing everything that 
was to be seen. His mother had died when he was 
quite young, and his father had lately married the 
daughter of a gnome, probably because their es¬ 
tates joined,— his stretching for many miles over 
the surface of the earth, while hers lay immedi¬ 
ately beneath them. The Prince did not like his 
gnome step-mother (who was, yon know, one of 
those large underground fairies, who are more like 
human beings than any others), and when a little 
gnome-baby was born, he could stand it no longer, 
and so obtained permission of his father to travel 
for the good of his body and mind. So he had 
been going from country to country until he 
reached the capital city of the great kingdom. 

There the Prince saw enough to fill him with 
wonder for the rest of his life. His old friend, 
Trumkard, took him day by day into the bazaars, 
and the palaces, and the mosques, and hundreds of 
places just as nice. One beautiful evening the 
Prince set out for a walk by himself through the 
city. The gentle twilight still tinged the sky with 


SO 


TING-A-LING. 


gold, and the soft breeze from the river, that 
passed through fruit-gardens and vineyards on its 
way to the city, smelt of peaches, and grapes, and 
plums, and oranges, and pomegranates, and pine¬ 
apples, and was truly very delicious. Everything 
was lovely, and the Prince felt good and happy. 
The very beggars, when he had passed them, 
blessed the happy stars that had caused them to 
be born during his life-time, so noble and gener¬ 
ous was the Prince this evening. Strolling along, 
he came to the palace of the mighty King. The 
Prince knew the palace; for Trumkard had taken 
him into it, and had shown him the six judges sit¬ 
ting in their velvet chairs, and the magical music 
hanging up against the marble tablet between 
them. He knew all about the music, and the con¬ 
ditions attached to it, but, not being much of a 
musician, he had never felt inclined to try it. So 
he walked through the royal courts and vestibules, 
and into the great hall where stood the six chairs, 
— empty, and covered with silken covers to keep 
the dust off during the night. And the music 
was concealed by a great plate of gold which was 
locked over it every night. He met but few 
persons; for every one who was not detained by 
some particular duty, had gone out-of-doors that 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


91 


lovely nig-lit. Here and there, a porter, or a black 
eunuch, or a soldier or two, he met; but as every 
one who saw him, knew him instantly for a prince 
of good blood, he could, of course, wander where 
he pleased. He passed on among the golden col¬ 
umns and sculptured doorways, and under vaulted 
and arabesque ceilings, until he came to a door of 
mother-of-pearl, which had a golden lock, an ala¬ 
baster knob, and a diamond key-hole. It turned 
easily on silver hinges, and the Prince passed by it 
into a beautiful garden. He had never been in 
such a place of loveliness. The trees were hung 
with many soft-colored lamps, and the fruit glit¬ 
tered and shone in gorgeous colors on the branches. 
Every night-bird sang, and every night-flower was 
giving forth its fragrance. In the middle of the 
garden was a fountain, the waters of which rose in 
a single jet from the centre, and then, as they fell 
back into the basin, each of their thousand drops 
struck upon a silver harp-string, causing the most 
delightful sounds to fill the air, and mingle with 
the songs of the birds and the perfume of the 
flowers. Around the great basin were silken cush¬ 
ions on which the Prince reclined, and the gold¬ 
fish that were swimming in the basin came up 
to him to be fed. There also came the ruby 


92 


TING-A-LING. 


fish, that shines as reel as blood, and the zimphare, 
or transparent fish, which is as colorless as the 
water, and can only be discovered by a green knot 
on its head and another on its tail. 

There were also many other fish, as the balance- 
fish, which conies up to the top of the water 
equally balanced, having at each end of its body 
expansions like the pans of scales. These are its 
mouths, and if one puts a crumb into one of them 
without having put one into the other, it turns 
right over, and sinks to the bottom. So, when this 
fish is properly fed, it always gets two crumbs at a 
time. Then there was the gelatine fish, that has 
no mouth at all, but is very soft and pulpy, and all 
that is necessary is to drop some crumbs upon his 
back, and they immediately soak in. Also the 
great flob was there, who came clattering and 
clanking up from the bottom of the basin, with his 
hard shells and heavy claws, as if he was the great¬ 
est fish alive. But for all that he opened his 
mouth so wide, and shut it upon a little crumb 
with a snap loud enough for a loaf of bread, his 
throat was so small that that little crumb nearly 
choked him. All these fishes the Prince fed from 
golden baskets filled with crumbs, and placed 
around the basin for the convenience of those who 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


93 


wished to amuse themselves by feeding* the fish. 
When he was tired of this sport, he rose and en¬ 
tered the palace again by another door. He had 
not walked far along an alabaster corridor, before 
he saw a door open, and an old woman come out. 
She had in her hand a silver waiter, on which was 
the remains of a delicious little supper, the scent 
of which seemed so charming to the Prince that 
it made him feel as hungry as a bear in the spring¬ 
time. The old woman, who was busy munching 
some of the pieces of cake, and sucking the bones 
of the little birds that were left, did not notice 
him; and, hoping to find some more good things 
where these came from, he slipped in at the door, 
before the old woman shut it, and entered a large 
and beautiful room, lighted by a single lamp that 
hung from the ceiling. At the upper end of this 
apartment, he was surprised to see a beautiful 
young Princess, who was sitting in an arm-chair, 
fast asleep, with a guitar on the floor at her feet. 
Around the room were placed musical instruments 
of all kinds; but there was no one there to play 
on them but the Princess, and she was fast asleep. 

There was a breeze in the room, that seemed to 
come and go like the waves of the sea; and the 
Prince could not imagine what occasioned it, for 


94 


TING-A-LING. 


all the doors and windows were closed. However, 
looking upwards, lie saw, behind the Princess’s 
chair, the reason of the wind and the lady’s slum¬ 
ber. Standing behind her, with his feet on the 
floor aud his head high up in the obscurity of 
the ceiling, was a great Nimshee, or evil spirit of 
the ocean, who was fanning her with his wings, 
and had put her to sleep with their slow and 
dreamy motion. With his great eyes glowing like 
meteors in the dimness of the upper part of the 
room, the Nimsliee glared at the Prince, and waved 
his wings faster and stronger. But our young 
friend was not afraid of him — not a bit. He 
walked softly round the room once or twice, and 
then, returning to the Princess, spoke to her. She 
did not awake, and the Prince called her louder 
and louder, and at last, putting his hand on her 
shoulder, he shook her; but still she slept. He 
felt that he must awaken her, and seizing the 
guitar that lay at her feet, he held it close to her 
ear, and struck the strings loudly. The Princess 
opened her eyes with a start; and as she awoke, 
the Nimshee, beating his breast with his wings, 
gave a great roar like the waves beating in a storm 
against a rocky coast, and flew away. The Princess 
Dluslied a little when she first saw the Prince, but 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


95 


lie was so polite that she soon recovered herself, 
and they conversed quite pleasantly. 

She explained the meaning of the musical instru¬ 
ments in the room, by stating that she had a great 
passion for music, and the good people of the pal¬ 
ace brought her a new instrument nearly every 
day; but she never sat down to play any of them 
but she went almost immediately to sleep. She 
could not imagine the reason for this; but the 
Prince knew very well that the Nimshee had put 
her to sleep to-day at any rate, and he had no 
doubt but that he was always at the bottom of it. 
He said nothing to her, however, of what he had 
seen, as he perceived that she did not know it, ana 
he did not wish to frighten her. 

She said she had taken her guitar that evening, 
as soon as she had finished her supper, but had 
fallen asleep as usual. She asked tlie Prince, “Do 
you plav?” and he said, “ Only a little;” and then 
they walked around the room, and looked at all 
the instruments, to see if there were any that the 
Prince could play cn better than the rest. He 
wished her to perform, but she urged him, and 
lie soon saw a hand-organ, and said he was pretty 
sure that he could plav on that. So he tried, and, 
sure enough, he could play very well, and the 


96 


TING-A-LING. 


Princess sat down on the floor by liiin, and he 
played for almost an hour and three quarters, 
and they were both very much pleased. Then the 
Prince’s arm got tired, and he stopped and asked 
the Princess to tell him her history. She said she 
was a little ashamed to tell him her story, because 



he might think that she was not of as good 
descent as himself; but the Prince insisting, she 
told him that her mother W'as a water-woman. 

“A mermaid, I suppose?” said the Prince. 

“ 0 no! ” she cried, “ none of those low things 
with fisli-taiis, but a real princess of the ocean. 












THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


97 


She lived in a splendid palace at the bottom of 
the sea, and fell in love with a prince of the 
earth, who left his father’s kingdom, and went 
down there and married her. 

“ I remember my father very well,’ , continued 
the beautiful Princess. “ He was a fine, hand¬ 
some man, but our climate never seemed to agree 
with him. He could not smoke under the water, 
and he often used to have aches which helped to 
make him unhappy. Before he died, he said that 
he would give all the treasures of the ocean for 
a pipe and a piece of dry flannel. When he left 
her, mother pined away, and soon died too, when 
I was only about twelve years old. I was very 
lonely, but, as I was the daughter of a water- 
princess and a land-prince, I could go where I 
pleased, either on shore or in the water. 5 ’ 

“ Amphibious like? 55 said the Prince. 

“I don't know anything about that, 55 she re¬ 
plied ; “ but I used to like to walk about on the 
sea-shore, for everything was so different from 
what I had been accustomed to, — birds, you 
know, and all that sort of thing.” 

“ 0 yes,” said the Prince, “ it must have been 
very different to you indeed; but 1 was going to 
say to you, a little while ago, that you need not 

7 


98 


TING-A-LING. 


think me above you, for I am half-brother to a 
gnome.” 

“ 0, I am glad to hear that,” she said ; “ I was 
afraid you would make fun of me.” 

“ As if J could! ” said the Prince, reproachfully. 

So she went on with her story. 

“ One day, about a year ago, when I was quite 
grown up, I met some ladies who lived here at 
the palace, and they wanted me to come home 
with them, and I did; and I have lived here ever 
since, and like it very much. They are all very 
kind, and if I didn’t sleep so much, I should be 
very happy.” 

The Prince now proposed to the Princess, and 
she accepted him, and then she sat down to a 
harp to give him a little music. The Prince’s 
presence, in some way (perhaps because he was 
half-brother to a gnome), prevented the appear¬ 
ance of the Nimshee; and for the first time since 
she had been in the palace, she played without 
hindrance, and her music was perfectly charming; 
and with tears of joy in his eyes, the Prince sat 
wishing she would play forever. After a while, 
however, she got tired and stopped; and when 
they turned around, they saw the room was filled 
by the people of the palace, who had come to 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


99 


hear this delicious music. They were nearly all 
wiping their eyes with their handkerchiefs, — they 
were so much affected, — and they could not find 
words good enough with which to praise the 
playing of the Princess. Such music they had 
never heard before. 

Directly she declared that she was going to 
bed; but she desired the Grand Chamberlain to 
take that young Prince and give him a handsome 
room until morning, when she would like to see 
him again, and make arrangements for their 
wedding. 

So she went away with her ladies, and the 
Chamberlain took the Prince out into the alabaster 
hall again. 

“ Prince indeed ! ” said the Chamberlain to him¬ 
self; “ 0 yes ! I’ll take care of him, certainly. A 
good room, — 0 yes, indeed ! ” and, taking the 
Prince by the arm, he hurried him along, until 
he came to the aviary, where all sorts of wonder¬ 
ful and costly birds were kept, and he pushed 
him in there, and locked him up. The Prince 
was so taken by surprise at this hasty treatment, 
that he had no time to get angry, or he would 
certainly have drawn his sword, and made short 
work of the Grand Chamberlain. As it was, he 


100 


TING-A-LING. 


passed the night in the aviary as well as he could ; 
but as he had no place to lie hut the floor, and 
as the ostriches walked about a good deal, he was 
very much afraid they might tread upon him, and 
this made him feel uneasy all night. The great 
owls, too, made it very unpleasant for him, by 
forming a circle around him, and steadfastly gaz¬ 
ing at him with their great eyes, which looked 
like enormous cat-eyes, stuck into the darkness. 
As to the night-hawks and the other birds which 
fly in the dark, they swooped around and over 
him the whole livelong night; and when he 
began to get a little sleep, about daybreak, every 
bird in the place began to sing, or twitter, or 
scream, or crow, or gobble, or chatter, and the 
Prince might as well have tried to fly as sleep. 
About eight o’clock, a man came to feed the birds, 
and seeing the Prince in the aviary, he put him 
out instantly. The Prince was* very angry, and 
tried to find out what this all meant; but the man 
told him he had better not let him catch him in 
there again, and slammed the door in his face. 
As the Prince wandered about the palace, he met 
a number of people, all of whom he asked to con¬ 
duct him to the Princess. Some laughed at him, 
and others told him that he had better be careful 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


101 


how he talked about the beautiful Princess, but 
no one conducted him to her. 

At last a man who seemed to have some author¬ 
ity, came up to the Prince, and, having heard 
his story, requested him to follow him. He led 
the way to a small door, and, motioning to the 
Prince to pass through it, shut and fastened it 
after him. The Prince found himself out in the 
street. 

Enraged and hungry, he hurried back to his 
lodgings, where he had left Trumkard. On the 
way, he heard a great many people talking of the 
beautiful music that, it was reported, the Princess 
had played at the palace the evening previous. 
In fact, this matter seemed to be the town talk ; 
but the Prince did not stay to listen to much of 
it, for he was extremely anxious to get something 
to eat, and to relate his troubles. 

Trumkard did not encourage him much, and 
proposed that they should continue their journey ; 
but the Prince would not listen to such advice, 
and as soon as he had finished his breakfast, he 
went back to the palace in order to try and see 
his Princess. But all the doors were fastened, 
and it was evident that there was no admission 
for the public that day. A great crowd stood 


102 


TING-A-LING. 


around tlie gates, and they were very much excited 
about something. 

The Prince learned from their discourse that 
it was thought that the Princess who played so 
splendidly, could certainly sing as well, and there 
was a suspicion that the Prime Minister, who 
had governed the people so long, was afraid of 
her powers, and had sent her away. Indeed, a 
certain Habbed-il-Gabbed, who kept a goat’s- 
cheese shop, and who had a cousin who was one 
of the royal-black-eunuch-guards, had heard from 
him that the Princess had certainly disappeared, 
and that the public suspicions were very likely 
to be correct. 

At this news the Prince smote his breast, and 
became very sad; and all that day and night, and 
the next day until sundown, he hung around the 
palace, hoping to get in. Trumkard was with 
him a great part of the time, and brought him 
cakes and things to keep him from starving. In 
the early evening of the second day, the Prince, 
while walking round the palace, saw a boy come 
out of a back-alley gate, to empty some ashes. 
Rushing at him, he seized him, and demanded of 
him news of the Princess. The boy, however, was 
deaf and dumb, and could not answer him; and 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


103 


the Prince perceiving* this, and being very expert 
in making signs, asked him in that way what 
had become of his lady-love. The boy then replied 
by a sign representing a heavy door, with four 
locks, a big bar, and a chain ; and a black eunuch 
with a drawn sword, asleep before it. 

Then the Prince tore his hair, and groaned, and 
went home to Trunikard. But he could not sleep ; 
and when the moon arose, he got up and wandered 
far away beyond the walls of the city, until he 
came to the borders of the sea. There he saw, 
roaming about upon the sands, numbers of w T ater- 
women, who every now and then blew upon conch- 
shells, looking about them in every direction, as 
if they expected some one to answer them. When 
the Prince perceived them, he slipped softly from 
rock to rock, keeping himself well concealed, un¬ 
til he came near one of them, when he made a 
sudden rush and caught her, while all the others, 
with loud cries, dashed into the sea. The one 
he, had captured, struggled and cried piteously; 
but, in as few words as possible, he entreated her 
to be quiet, and to understand that if she was 
looking for a Princess, he could tell her where 
she was, or at least where she had been. The 
water-woman then became quiet, and the Prince 


104 


TING-A-LING. 


told her all he knew, and how anxious he was to 
find the beautiful Princess. The good woman of 
the sea then told him that she and her compan¬ 
ions had come up on the shore every night for a 
year, hoping that the Princess would stray that 
way, and be induced by them to return to her 
ocean home. Then she told him who the Princess 
really was, and thus her story ran. 

When the late mighty King, Barradin, was 
quite young, he married a daughter of the ocean, 
at which his father, much incensed, drove him 
from the court. He retired far from men, and 
a little son was born to him. In a few years his 
wife died, and he was left alone with his son. 
When this boy grew up, he also married a water- 
woman, and, having so much of their blood in 
his veins, he went down to live with his wife’s 
relations, leaving his father to do as well as he 
could by himself, until he ascended the throne. 
When Barradin became king, he did not marry 
a queen, or cut off people’s heads, or go to war, 
or build palaces; but he took his chief delight 
in music, and encouraged the love of it among 
his people. So it was in the hope that one of 
his descendants might some day sit upon the 
throne, that he composed the magical music; for 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


105 


lie knew that no one but a descendant of the 
ocean-folk could sing that music, and none hut 
those of his blood could read it, for there was 
magic in his family. 

When the music was finished, the King died. 
His mother was a sorceress, and a very wicked 
old woman, who, when her son was dead, gave it 
out that she herself was dying; for she had now 
lived so long that people had begun to suspect 
something, and to think that she had too much 
to do with magic. So she pretended to die, and 
was buried in the royal vault; and at night she 
came out and went far away from the city to a 
great cave in a lonely country where dwelt the 
demons and evil spirits who were her servants. 
She now spent her life in wickedness. She it 
was who put it into the heads of so many sensible 
people to contend for the crown, and it was with 
joy that she saw them carried out to the asylum. 
Many other evil thoughts she put into the hearts 
of the people, and she was forever imagining and 
doing mischief. 

When this young Princess, her great-grand¬ 
child, w-as born, Mahbracca (that was the name of 
the old sorceress) was very much troubled, and 
used all available means to destroy the infant; but 


106 


TING-A-LING. 


her efforts were vain, for the people of the ocean 
protected her from all enchantments. 

As the Princess grew up, she loved to ramble on 
the white sands, and she was once perceived there 
by a party of ladies from the palace, who had 
persuaded her to come with them to their royal 
home, where she had now been for a year. She 
knew not who she was, nor did her friends at the 
palace; and her relations of the ocean had always 
hoped that some day she would return to them. 
Now the sorceress feared that some day she would 
happen to sing the magical music, and be made 
queen; and she hated the poor girl so much, that 
she would not have had this happen for all the 
world. Therefore it was, no doubt, that she had 
sent the Nimsliee, in order to prevent the Prin¬ 
cess from ever exercising the wonderful gift she 
had inherited. 

This much the water-woman told the Prince, 
but as to what had now become of the Princess, 
she did not know; but there were others of her 
people who knew more than she did, and she would 
inquire of them. Taking the Prince by the hand, 
she led him out upon a headland that projected 
some distance out into the sea, and blew four times 
loudly upon her conch-shell. A great heaving and 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


107 


swelling’ of the waters was presently seen, and in 
a few moments an elderly personage emerged from 
the waves, and walked carefully up to the rock on 
which they stood, lie was a curious-looking in¬ 
dividual, and, as the water-woman informed the 
Prince, a powerful lord of the ocean. 

He was wrapped in an old-fashioned cloak, made 
of the finest quality of sea-weed, and drawing this 
closely around him, he requested his fair cousin of 
the sea to be as quick as possible in her business 
with him, as it was not prudent for him to be in 
the air much at his age. So the water-woman 
briefly related to him what the Prince had told 
her. 

When he heard this, the old sea-gentleman 
folded his arms and looked very grave. “ Mah- 
bracca is at the bottom of this,” said he. u The 
Prime Minister would never have thought of im¬ 
prisoning the Princess, if that wretched sorceress 
had not put it into his head. I have no doubt 
that she now has the Princess in her power, and 
very likely shut up in her retreat.” 

“ What! ” cried the Prince, “where is it? 
Where is her cave? I will go instantly and res¬ 
cue my beloved Princess! ” and he drew his sword 
of adamant and waved it over his head. 


108 


TING-A-LING. 


“ All my friend ! ” said the old man of the water, 
“you could do little against the powerful Mali- 
bracca and her minions. But you might go there 
to be sure, and find out if she really has possession 
of the Princess. But then you may lose your life.” 

“ 1 care not! ” cried the Prince. “ Dead or 
alive, I will be with my Princess.” 

The two citizens of the ocean talked together a 
few moments, and then the old man asked him if 
he was really determined to undertake this .peril¬ 
ous enterprise, and the Prince emphatically de¬ 
clared that he was. 

“ The distance by the sea is much the shortest; 
would you be willing to go in that way?” asked 
the old man. 

“Certainly,” said the Prince, “provided I have 
to go over, and not under the water.” 

The old gentleman made no reply to this, but 
putting his two forefingers in his mouth he whis¬ 
tled loudly. 

In a few moments a sea-boy came up out of the 
water, and stood beside him. The old man made 
a few remarks to him in the ocean dialect, when 
the boy*jumped off the rock and disappeared be¬ 
neath the waves. 

“ Now, sir,” said the sea-gentleman to the Prince, 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


109 


“you must clieer up and be lively, or you cannot 
hope to succeed in this matter. My boy will take 
you to the sea-side entrance of the cave of Mah- 
bracca. There I hope you will have no difficulty 
in entering’, but I can say nothing positive upon 
the subject.” 

At this moment the sea-boy reappeared, driving 
a pair of dolphins, which were harnessed to a large 
and commodious sea-shell, somewhat resembling 
in shape the boat of the nautilus. 

When the equipage was drawn up at the foot of 
the rock, the Prince took leave of his friends, and 
quickly stepped in and took his seat. 

“ I wish you all success,” said the elderly per¬ 
sonage, and, reminding the boy to be sure to keep 
their heads up, he walked down into the sea. 

The water-woman said nothing, but stood on the 
rock, gazing sadly after the Prince, as the dolphins 
drew him rapidly from the shore. The fishes made 
excellent time, and the motion of the great shell 
over the waves would have been exceedingly pleas¬ 
ant to the Prince, if his mind had not been filled 
with anxiety and impatience. He shifted his posi¬ 
tion so often, and rolled the vehicle about so much, 
that once or twice the sea-boy turned round and 
asked him if he did not wish to get out, to which 


110 


TING-A-LING. 


the Prince did not reply, but only urged him to 
make greater speed. The journey lasted until the 
morning of the next day, and was marked by no 
greater occurrence than the annoyance caused by 
the wild dolphins occasionally coming up around 
them, endeavoring to play with their brothers in 
harness. But the boy, with his whip of shark’s 
skin, and the Prince with his sword, soon drove 
them down again. 

At last they dashed into shore, and the sea-boy, 
pulling up his steeds, jumped out, followed imme¬ 
diately by the Prince. 

“ Take the road in front of you,” said the boy, 
u and you cannot miss your way.” 

The Prince then threw a piece of platinum to 
the boy, who tucked it in between two of his scales, 
and jumping into his shell, drove rapidly away. 

The shore where the Prince now found himself 
was very peculiar. A high rocky wall, seemingly 
inaccessible, stood up solemnly in front of him, 
and extended out, on each side, far into the sea. 
Directly before him was a great cleft or tunnel in 
the rock, which extended so far back that its other 
extremity was not visible from where he stood. 
This rocky avenue was the only passage, in any di¬ 
rection, that the Prince could perceive, and conse- 


TIIE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


Ill 


quently, without delay or fear, he drew his sword, 
and entered it. The way for a while was easy, but 
afterward became very rough, and uneven. Here 
and there were openings in the walls above him, 



through which came a misty light; and by it the 
Prince perceived that the walls were filled with 
precious stones, which glistened and sparkled 
brightly, while great veins of gold and silver were 
streaked about in all directions. Under his feet 




112 


TING-A-LING. 


were thousands of jewels, and hits of precious min¬ 
erals without number. His way was now very 
difficult, for the avenue was narrow and rough. 
Pearls and sapphires got into his shoes, and he cut 
his legs and scratched his hands against the sharp 
diamonds and rubies that stuck out from the walls. 
But he pressed bravely on until the ground became 
more even and the walls wider apart, and at length 
he entered quite an open space, inclosed by a wall 
in which he saw before him an immense gate of 
copper. He went up and tried to push it open, 
but finding it immovable, he knocked loudly upon 
it with the hilt of his sword. Directly, a small 
window at one side*of the gate was opened, and 
a ghoul put his head out. Seeing that it was a 
Prince who knocked, he drew in his head, and 
opened the gate. The Prince quickly entered. 
“I wish,” said he, in an imperious voice, “to 
see the Princess whom the wicked Mahbracca has 
doubtless imprisoned in this cavern.” 

“ 0 ! ” said the ghoul, grinning horribly, “cer¬ 
tainly! Pass on, great Prince! The Princess and 
my mistress will both be glad to see you. Pass on 
freely. You - cannot miss your way.” Opening 
then his wide mouth, he gave a great laugh, and 
reentered the porter’s lodge, through the open 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


113 


door of which the Prince saw, upon a table, an 
empty coffin and a jug*. 

The Prince now found himself in a long and wide 
passage, dimly lighted and very damp. The place 
smelt like a burial vault, and against the walls on 
each side, rows of ghouls sat on the floor, their 
knees drawn up to their chins. As the Prince 
passed, some of them jumped up and gibed at him, 
leering, sticking out their tongues, and smacking 
their lips as they danced around him. Walking 
on rapidly, he soon left these gibbering wretches, 
and found that the passage became much drier, 
although darker, and wound and turned in various 
directions. Against the walfc, transfixed by great 
iron pins, were enormous glow-worms, which gave 
the only light in this dismal place. These worms 
turned their heads to look at the Prince, and 
flashed a brighter light from their tails, that they 
might see him the better. Presently he noticed 
a small door in the wall, which was not quite 
closed. Pushing it open, he entered a room, the 
floor of which was not very spacious, but which 
was very high. Against one of the walls, chained 
by his arms and his wings and his legs, was the 
Nimshee who had fanned the Princess with his 
sleep-giving wings. 


114 


TING-A-LING. 


When this evil spirit saw the Prince, his eyes 
glowed so brightly that they lighted up the room 
as if they had been torches ; and, putting down his 
horrid head as low as his bonds would allow, he 
opened wide his nostrils and his mouth, and bel¬ 
lowed with fury, like an immense bull, — at the 
same time tugging and struggling at his chains, 
until the very walls shook with his raging strength. 

This spectacle caused the Prince to step out of 
the room with alacrity, and quickly shutting the 
door behind him, he walked rapidly along the 
gloomy passage. On his way he met numerous 
demons and evil spirits of various kinds, but they 
only scowled at him as he passed, and he spoke to 
none of them. He soon descended a stone stair¬ 
way which led down to a large circular hall, with 
various doors and passages leading from it. On 
the side opposite to the stairs was a great door of 
green marble, sculptured with mysterious devices. 
Stepping up to it, and finding that it opened eas¬ 
ily, he entered an octagonal room, the walls of 
which were hung with the skins of spotted cats, 
and on the floor was spread a skin of the sacred 
white elephant of India. The Prince perceived 
that this was merely an anteroom, for to the left 
of him was a door, before which sat a fierce and 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


115 


black Afrite, with a great javelin in his hand. 
With his hands upon his knees, the Afrite bent 
down his head, and looked steadfastly at the Prince 
with glaring eyes. 

Advancing towards this formidable sentinel, the 
Prince inquired of him where he should find the 
Princess, if she were shut up here, or where he 
could see the sorceress Mahbracca. The Afrite 
arose, and, pushing aside the block of porphyry on 
which he had been sitting, took down a brazen bar 
by which the door was fastened, and throwing it 
open, told the Prince, in a harsh and brazen voice, 
to enter. 

The room in which the Prince now found him¬ 
self, was the private apartment of the sorceress, 
where had been concocted all the wickedness with 
which she had cursed the subjects of her son. 

At first, the Prince could scarcely distinguish 
the objects in the room, as it was lighted only by 
a small brazier which burnt dimly on a table; but 
the Afrite thrust his javelin into the brazier, and 
the flames, all green and red, burst forth luridly, 
lighting up the apartment with unearthly colors. 
The Afrite, after informing the Prince that the 
great Mahbracca would soon attend him, left him, 
ind returned to his station on the other side of 


116 


TING-A-LING. 


the door. Somewhat fearful that all this willing¬ 
ness to admit him boded no good, the Prince still 
determined to push boldly on in his adventure 
(that being, indeed, the only course possible for 
him), and to take things as coolly as possible. 

Looking around him, he saw, by the bright light 
which now filled the room, that against each of 
the walls was a row of cages, containing snakes 
of various grades o£ venom, placed in order, ac¬ 
cording to their deadly properties. Standing on 
their heads, in various places against the wall, 
were many of those dreadful green lizards wliicli^ 
poison the air of the deep valleys of Sumatra, and 
whose bite causes their victim, together with all 
his blood relations, to gangrene in an instant. 
These, although standing so stiffly against the 
wall, were all alive, and some of them, perceiving 
the Prince was looking at them, winked at him. 
Put he paid them no further attention, and pro¬ 
ceeded with his inspection of the room. 

There were great numbers of horrid-looking 
furnaces, and cages, and grotesque lamps, with the 
flames out, but with wicks still smouldering, and 
smelling vilely. Upon a shelf near the ceiling was 
a row of great jars, and out of one of them was 
continually popping the head of an excessively 


TIIE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


117 


sinning and black little demon, who had evidently, 
for some offense, been put there in pickle. From 
the other jars came groans, but no heads. These 
had been in longer. While the Prince stood, 
scarcely able to refrain from laughing at the com¬ 
ical countenance of the young demon in the jar, 
he heard the opening of a door, and, turning, saw 
the sorceress Malibracca enter the apartment. 
This worthy dame presented r* remarkable appear¬ 
ance. Short, with a large head partly covered with 
stubbly white hair, she had a face of the color and 
smoothness of an Irish potato, which has been 
lying in the sun for about eighteen months. Her 
eyes opened in the middle of the pupil, with a slit, 
like those of a cat, and she had three long hairs, 
or whiskers, on e&cli side of her upper lip. She 
advanced with a smile, which did not make her 
look any more lovely, and extended her hand to 
the Prince. Being a man of politeness, of course 
he took it, but her touch was ten times more 
clammy and deadly than that of a snake. 

“I am glad to see you,” said Malibracca. 
“Will you take some rest and refreshment? You 
must be tired, for you have surely travelled a long 
way.” 

“ No,” said the Prince, “ I desire neither rest 


118 


TING-A-LING. 


nor refreshment. “ All I require is, that you 
conduct me to the Princess, if you have her here 
confined, and then that you deliver her up to 
me.” 

“ Ah ! ” said the sorceress, “ that is certainly 
not much to ask. You shall be gratified. Allow 
me to conduct you to her; she will be delighted, 
I am sure.” 

Then taking in her hand a staff, and opening 
the door by which she had entered, she requested 
the Prince to follow her. Passing quickly through 
several apartments, they entered a wide, long, and 
dim avenue. 

“ Come,” said the sorceress, “ give me your 
hand ; we will lose no time.” 

But the Prince, remembering his former expe¬ 
rience of her touch, drew back from the bony hand 
which she extended to him. 

u Ah!” cried she, with a hideous grin, “you 
are able to get along by yourself, are you, my 
dear? I dare say your young legs are very strong 
and nimble. You don’t need any old woman’s 
help. Ha, ha! Well, come on ! The Princess 
awaits you ! ” 

With these remarks, the aged hag set off at 
a pace, which, considering her years, was truly 




















THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


121 


wonderful, putting’ the Prince to his best endeav¬ 
ors to keep up with her. The underground av¬ 
enue in which they ran seemed of great length; 
and very shortly the old lady varied the exercise 
by introducing certain gymnastics. Sometimes, 
as she stretched out her staff, the ground would 
suddenly open before her, and she sprang over 
the wide chasm with the greatest ease; while the 
poor Prince, all unprepared, would have to strain 
every muscle in his body to clear, in the midst 
of his rapid career, the yawning gulf. Then she 
would wave her staff upwards, and the ground rise 
in front of her, like a steep and rocky hill, up 
which she would lightly run, while the Prince 
could scarcely restrain himself from dashing vio¬ 
lently against its stony face. Then, while heated 
and breathless with the ascent of one of these, he 
would see her wave her staff downward, and 
plunge down a steep declivity, into the darkness 
of which he followed her pell-mell, not knowing 
whether he was going to descend a few yards or 
a mile. Very soon, however, he began to get 
his blood up, and, kicking out his legs like a wild 
goat of Cashmere, he prepared to show her that 
it would have to be a very smart old woman who 
could beat him in a race. So away they went, 


TING-A-LING. 


1 09 

i 

like a cat and a dog, the Prince clearing the great 
gaps as last as Mahbracca could make them. At 
last he actually gained on her, and kept ahead 
of her for a few minutes, during which time he 
had level running. But with a great effort, she 
passed him, and, violently throwing up the end 
of her staff, caused a great rock to rise with such 
promptness, that the Prince came within an inch 
of braining himself against it. But over it they 
went, and for half a mile kept neck and neck ; 
but the old woman soon put an end to this, for, 
whirling her staff round her head, the Prince 
instantly found himself wading in sand up to his 
armpits. 

44 That’s mean ! ” he cried, with tears of indig¬ 
nation in his eyes. But Mahbracca jumped up 
and down on top of the sand, waving her arms, 
and laughing and screaming like a hyena. 

44 Ah ha ! my vigorous Prince,” cried she, 44 why 
do you stop? Hasten, hasten ! Swiftest of youths, 
the Princess awaits us ! ” 

Incensed by her mockery, he gave a mighty 
plunge into the sand before him, and surged 
along like a ship in the ocean, while Mahbracca 
skipped gayly by him, playfully kicking the sand 
into his eyes. 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


123 


u You see the advantage of lightness, iny dear,” 
cried she. “ I pass easily over the top of this 
sand, while you — 0, how you do wallow! Ha, 
ha, ha ! I never saw anything like it.” 

With such remarks, she beguiled his way, until 
relenting, she at last waved her staff again above 
her head, and the Prince found himself by her 
side, on solid ground. 

She complimented him on his remarkable agil¬ 
ity and strength, but he made her no answer, 
and, wiping his face with his handkerchief, walked 
on without a word. At length they reached the 
end of the avenue, and, passing through a circular 
aperture with which it terminated, the Prince 
found himself in the cavity of an immense hollow 
mountain, the floor of which was a great plain, 
and into which the light of day was admitted 
through an opening in the top, more than two 
miles above him. 

Scattered about over the blackish sward were 
many groups of ghouls and variously colored de¬ 
mons, some playing pitch-penny with ancient coins, 
and others lying asleep on the ground. At a dis¬ 
tance, grazing on the exuberant and oily foliage, 
were herds of the prong-horned Yabouks, — those 
sanguinary monsters which impale their victims on 


124 


TING-A-LING. 


the great horn upon their noses, holding hack 
their heads and opening their mouths to let the 
blood slowly trickle down their throats. 

Many other dreadful cattle were scattered about 
the plain, drinking at the greenish streams which 
meandered about in various directions, or stand¬ 
ing ruminating, knee-deep in the oily water. But 
these things claimed not the attention of the 
Prince. 

In the centre of this great plain stood a tower. 

“ Behold ! ” cried Mahbracca, springing in front 
of him, and waving her arms — “behold the dwell¬ 
ing of your Princess ! Come! let us run, let us 
bound ! ” 

Seizing him by the hand with a strength that 
was not to be resisted, she led him, at great speed, 
to the foot of the tower. Then at the top of her 
voice she called out, — 

“ Princess ! appear at your window quickly ! 
Your love has come from afar unto you. Show 
yourself to him ! ” 

At these words, the Princess put her head out 
of the highest window, and when the Prince saw 
her lovely face, he fell down on his knees, trem¬ 
bling with happiness, and protesting in broken 
sentences his love for her; while she, bending 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


125 


out over the window-sill, wept silently tears of joy, 
which came down pitter, patter, oil the Prince’s 
head. 

Starting presently to his feet, the Prince ran 
around the tower to find the front door, and, see¬ 
ing it, he endeavored to push it open, hut it was 
securely fastened. He then turned to look for 
Mahbracca, and perceived her standing at some 
distance, surrounded by a crowd of ghouls and 
demons, who seemed to be greatly enjoying the 
scene. The Prince shouted loudly to her to send 
him the keys, at which the whole crowd set up a 
shout of laughter, and Mahbracca hysterically 
screamed to him, — 

“ Enter! Enter, great Prince ! Why wait so 
long outside ? You grieve your lovely Princess ! ” 

The Prince, enraged, drew his sword of adamant, 
and at one blow thrust it through the lock, but 
the door did not open, and the sword was fixed im¬ 
movably. In vain did he tug and struggle at it. 
He could not move it an inch. Hearing greater 
and wilder cries of derision, he turned towards the 
crowd and shook his fist at them, and then went 
back under the window of the Princess, but she 
was not visible. He called her again and again, 
at the top of his voice, but she did not answer 


126 


TING-A-LING. 


him nor make her appearance. The night was fast 
coming on, and overcome with sorrow and despair, 
and weak with hunger, the Prince fell upon the 
ground. 

When he had lain thus for an hour or two, hear¬ 
ing nothing of the Princess or his enemies, he be¬ 
gan to reflect that if he intended to serve his lady¬ 
love, he must do something, and that speedily. 
He himself, he plainly saw, had no power against 
this sorceress, and perhaps even now she was 
within the tower, preventing the Princess from 
answering or appearing to him. He would go for 
assistance, and, come what would, the Princess 
should he delivered from that horrid tower. He 
therefore arose, and, without reflecting how he was 
to leave this abode of wickedness, he prepared to 
return to his friend and adviser Trumkard. When 
he reached the aperture bv which he had entered 
the hollow mountain (which he did without meet¬ 
ing any one), he found it closed by a gate of brass. 
But he was not to be thus deterred. He ran 
around the sides of the mountain, rousing in his 
course several herds of Yabouks and dreadful cat¬ 
tle that gazed, half awake, at his rapid movements, 
and examined, as well as he could by the dim 
light, the wall of this great cavern. He soon be- 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


127 


came convinced, by the knowledge lie had gained 
in a few visits to his step-mother’s dominions, that 
these walls were not very thick. His resolution 
was quickly formed. Taking off his handsome 
and richlv embroidered clothes, which would only 
impede him in his labors, he stood dressed only in 
his under-vest and trousers. Then, springing up¬ 
on a projecting rock and over another, he entered 
a great crack, pushed through some loose earth, 
and made his way through the various crevices of 
the ground, as he had seen the gnomes do. After 
about an hour’s work, he emerged into the open 
air very tired and very dirty. After resting awhile, 
he arose, and, taking his way across a great plain, 
found himself by daybreak, worn out and footsore, 
near the gates of a great city. Entering, he in¬ 
quired of one of the few people who were up so 
early, what city this was, and was informed that 
it was the city of the Queen Altabec, and a long 
distance from the city of the mighty King. 

The Prince thanked his informant, and proceeded 
to look for a tailor’s shop, where he might provide 
himself with clothes; for he perceived that people 
eyed him with suspicion, and well they might. 
Having found a shop, he entered, and desired to be 
immediately fitted with a prince’s suit. The mas- 


128 


TING-A-LING. 


ter tailor, knowing by his proud air that he was a 
Prince, and supposing he had been on some youth¬ 
ful adventure, and lntd thus lost his clothes, was 
delighted to serve him, and, running to the shelves 
and drawers, pulled out all the princes’ suits, and 
spread them before his customer. The Prince 
selected some very handsome clothes, and, having 
washed himself, put them on, and found they fitted 
him exactly. He declared his satisfaction with 
them, and putting his hand in his pocket for his 
purse, found nothing of the kind there, the tailor 
not furnishing his clothes in that way. He now 
remembered that all his money was in the clothes 
he had left behind him in the mountain, and ex¬ 
plained his condition to the tailor. The latter, 
however, had no wish to deal with princes who 
had no money, and ordered him to instantly take 
off the suit. The Prince, who was strictly honest, 
was about obeying, when one of his feet (which 
were very tender with his much walking) giving 
him a sudden pain, he stooped down to see what 
was in his shoe, and taking it off, out rolled a mag¬ 
nificent pearl and two sapphires. 

“ There,” said the Prince, picking them up, and 
handing them to the tailor, “if these will be 
of any use to you, you can have them for the 
clothes.” 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC, 


129 


The tailor, filled with admiration at the sight of 
these jewels, and with the most profound respect 
for a prince who carried such wealth iu his shoes, 
accepted them instantly, and the Prince left the 
shop. But the good tailor, gazing joyfully at his 
new-found treasures, was so conscientious and 
grateful, that he ran out after the Prince, and gave 
him back one of the sapphires as change. 

It may as well be here related that the tailor 
sold the pearl to a jeweler, who gave him one third 
of its value, with which he retired into the coun¬ 
try, bought great possessions, and lived in much 
dignity for many years. Some time afterward, the 
Queen Altabec happening to pass the jeweler’s 
shop, and seeing the pearl in the window, imme¬ 
diately ordered the execution of the jeweler and 
the seizure of the pearl, which she placed above all 
the other jewels in the tip-top of her crown, where 
it still remains. As for the sapphire, the tailor’s wife 
put that away for a rainy day ; but as the rainy day 
never came, and she never went to look for it in its 
hiding-place, it made no earthly difference to her 
that her youngest child had found it, and had 
swapped it off for half of a little stale apple-pie. 

After leaving the tailor’s shop, the Prince made 
all haste to an inn, where, having eaten about foui 

9 


180 


TING-A-LING. 


meals in one, lie bought from an Arab, who was 
highly recommended to him, a swift dromedary of 
the desert, for which he gave one sapphire, and re¬ 
quested the landlord of the ldian to see that the 
Arab paid to him, out of its value, what would suf¬ 
fice for the price of his breakfast. This the land¬ 
lord promised faithfully to do, and it is said that 
the descendants of that landlord are still drawing 
on the descendants of that Arab for installments 
of the price of that wonderful breakfast. 

Mounting his dromedary, the Prince would have 
started, but was detained by the Arab, who em¬ 
braced the animal, and begged the Prince, out of 
charity to a poor man, to add a little to the meagre 
price he had paid for it. Upon which the Prince, 
knowing the habits of these Arabs, drew his sword, 
which he had got with his suit, and threatened to 
split the affectionate man in halves, if he did not im¬ 
mediately take his hands off the beast, which 
the man instantly did. When he started off, the 
humpbacked courser might have gone much faster 
if he had felt inclined, and at last the Prince be¬ 
came so enraged at the exceedingly leisurely style 
of his trot, that he lifted his sword to serve the 
animal as he had threatened to serve his old mas¬ 
ter; but the intelligent dromedary, casting back its 


TIIE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


131 


only eye, perceived the danger, and set off at such 
a terrific speed, that the people in the villages 
through which it passed knew not what it was 
that had trodden down their children, and upset 
the old women at their pomegranate stalls. 

Before night, the Prince pulled up in the great 
city before the door of the inn in which Trumkard 
and himself had lodged. Trumkard was sitting 
on the front step, with a melon on his lap and a 
skin bottle between his knees. Hastily dismount¬ 
ing, the Prince threw himself upon the neck of 
his old friend with such force that he upset the 
old gentleman and his supper into a great pile to¬ 
gether. Jumping up, and wiping the wine out of 
his eyes and the melon-juice out of his hair, Trum¬ 
kard welcomed his young master, and assured him 
that he had several times wondered where he was. 
The Prince then led him iu-doors, and related his 
adventures, and besought his advice. 

Thereupon, Trumkard, throwing his right leg 
over his left, rested his elbow on his knee, and, 
reposing his chin in his hand, cogitated. At last 
he spoke. 

“ We cannot do better,” said he, “than to ap¬ 
ply to the Giant Tur-il-i-ra.” 


132 


TING-A-LING. 


This Giant, it will be remembered, was our old 
acquaintance, and the friend of Ting-a-ling. 

The Prince having readily consented to this 
proposition, it was agreed that they should go to 
the Giant the next day, and implore his assistance. 
The Prince would have started that night, hut 
Trumkard had great objections to night travelling, 
and he, being the best at an argument, gained his 
point. 

Early the next morning, the travellers set forth 
upon their journey, well mounted upon two good 
horses. (It may be as well to state that during 
the night, the Prince’s dromedary had returned to 
its original owner.) 

As it will take two days of hard riding for our 
friends to reach their destination, we will leave 
them, and return for a time to the gentle Mah- 
bracca, who, when she had left the Prince, had 
gone to her private room to prepare an ingenious 
wdre arrangement, which she called a “prince- 
trap,” in which he was to be inclosed and hung up 
before the window of the Princess, for the amuse¬ 
ment of this lively sorceress. 

But w hat w as her dismay when, on returning to 
the tower, the first Yabouk she met told her of 
the escape of the Prince ! Speechless with ap- 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


133 


prehension, she ran to the place where he had 
passed through the side of the mountain, and see¬ 
ing his clothes upon the ground and the indubita¬ 
ble signs of his egress, she became perfectly furi¬ 
ous, and, rushing hack to the tower, commanded 
the dreadful Afrite who guarded her door, and who 
now accompanied her, to enter and to bring down 
the Princess, but on no account to injure her until 
she should be placed alive in the cage that had 
been prepared for the Prince. The faithful Afrite 
bowed his head in obedience, and having at one 
bound entered one of the lower windows, he hur¬ 
ried up the stairs to the door of the Princess’s 
room. Bursting it open, he saw the Princess 
lying on the floor in a swoon (into which she had 
fallen when she perceived that Mahbracca was act¬ 
ing treacherously towards the Prince), and, sup¬ 
posing her to be dead, he hastily plunged down 
the stairs to inform his mistress, and rushing vio¬ 
lently against the front door to burst it open (as 
was his habit when doors were in his way), he im¬ 
mediately spitted himself upon the Prince’s sword 
of adamant, which was sticking through the lock. 

After waiting some time, and becoming alarmed 
at the long absence of the Afrite, the sorceress sent 
for the key of the tower, and opened the door. But 


134 


TING-A-LING. 


when it slowly swung open, and the body of her 
favorite swung with it, — the point of the sword 
emerging from the middle of his back, — she 
fainted away. Coming io her senses in a few min¬ 
utes, she ordered him to be drawn off and carried 
to her room, where, after again locking the tower 
door, she followed, in the hopes of reviving, by 
means of proper magical remedies, whatever vital¬ 
ity might be left in the unfortunate and indispen¬ 
sable Afrite. 

Trumkard and the Prince journeyed so rapidly 
that their horses fell, utterly exhausted, at the 
end of the first day’s journey; and, not being able 
to procure others, they were obliged to go the 
rest of the way on foot. You may be sure that 
the Prince did not lag by the way, and poor 
Trumkard was obliged to do his very best to keep 
up with him at all. Therefore, when, near the end 
of the second day, they arrived at the Giant’s cas¬ 
tle, they were tired and warm enough. Entering 
the great gate (to the hinge of which little Ting- 
a-ling once tied his butterfly), they approached the 
castle, and perceived the Giant sitting in his front 
porch, with his feet in immense slippers, comfort¬ 
ably resting against one of the great pillars before 
the door. The Prince, who had never seen him 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


185 


before, was struck with astonishment at his great 
size; but Trumkard assured him that a nobler or 
more true-hearted being never breathed, for all 
be was so big. 

When Tur-il-i-ra perceived them, he arose and 
welcomed them heartily, remembering Trumkard 
as an old friend. He caused them to be seated 
on the porch, and ordered water to be brought 
that they might free themselves from the dust of 
the journey. Then he called to his attendants to 
spread a table, and to bring some cold meat and 
some game, some curries and hashes, some minced 
meat, some pepper-pot, some mutton-chops, ome¬ 
lettes, bacon and eggs; some broiled steaks, some 
spare-ribs, toast, butter, cheese, pickles, and salad ; 
some macaroni, vermicelli, chowder, mullagatawny, 
lobsters, clams, oysters, mussels, and shrimps ; also 
some tripe, kidneys, liver, and sausages, and calves’- 
foot-jelly, and stewed cranberries; also frangipanni 
tarts and a Charlotte-Russe, with bottles of or¬ 
geat, sherbet, and iced wines, together with mead 
and mineral water. 

When his guests had partaken of these, their 
hunger was fully satisfied, and they related to him 
the reason of their coming. When the Giant 
learned how the Princess was kept from her lover, 


136 


TING-A-LING. 


and in all probability from a throne, by this 
wicked sorceress, his anger knew no bounds. 

“ I knew the woman well! ” he cried, “ hut I 
thought her dead. Many is the deed of vile 
magic which I have known her to do, but now — 
well, my friends, you shall be avenged. I will 
take up the cause of the Princess, and we will 
set out for the hollow mountain as soon as I can 
get myself ready to start.” 

Leaving the two friends in comfortable chairs 
on the porch, in which they fell asleep as soon 
as he had left them, the Giant ascended the great 
stone stairs into his armory, which was an im¬ 
mense room, filled with his mighty weapons, and 
armor and all sorts of implements of warfare. 
Kicking off his slippers, he put upon his feet 
great boots, the like of which w r ere never seen 
before. Their soles were enormously thick, and 
studded with nails, each one of which was so 
heavy that I would not like to have to carry it 
very far. Then, having put on his chain armor 
and his great gauntlets, and having arrayed him¬ 
self otherwise according to his taste, he put upon 
his head his helmet, which was like a great iron 
pot, and big enough to — well, big enough to 
cover his head, which is saying a great deal. He 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


137 


then took, from the comer of the room, his club, 
which was the trunk of a tall tree, with one end 
fastened into a great rock, by way of having a 
knob to it. Having thus accoutred himself, he 
came down-stairs, and, finding his guests in such 
a sound slumber, he had not the heart to waken 
them; so he gently took them up, and put one of 
them in each of the side-pockets of the coat which 
he wore over his armor. Then, having given 
orders to his servants to close all the gates, and 
see that the house was well fastened up for fear of 
thieves, he strode out of the great gate, and pro¬ 
ceeded towards the hollow mountain. Although 
this was a long journey for a man or a horse, our 
Giant made such tremendous strides that it did 
not seem like a very great distance to him; and 
when Trumkard and the Prince awoke, and stood 
up, and looked in astonishment out of the pocket- 
holes, they saw the mountain in the distance. 
The Giant, perceiving that they were awake, 
looked from one to the other with his peculiar 
pleasant smile, and assured them that their 
troubles would soon be at an end. 

“ I hardly think,” said he, “ that the old 
woman can keep me out of her tower; ” and he 
laughed at the very idea of such a thing. The 


138 


TING-A-LING. 


Prince made no reply, but he thought that if 
the Giant did get into the tower, it would be 
considerably stretched. 

Haying arrived at the mountain, the Giant 
walked around it until he came to the place 
where, the Prince informed him, he had made 
his escape, and which was, as far as there was 
an opportunity of judging, one of the thinnest 
parts. Tur-il-i-ra took his friends out of his 
pockets, and set them on the ground at a little 
distance from the foot of the mountain; and then 
letting his club down from his shoulder, he 
whirled it around his head, and struck such a 
tremendous blow on the side of the mountain, 
with the rock end, that everything cracked again. 
Then another on the same place, and another, 
and another, until, at the last blow, a great mass 
of rock and eart^fell inside with a crash like 
thunder, leaving a gap large enough for the whole 
party to walk in without stooping. You may be 
^ure that the three were not long in entering; 
but no sooner had they set foot upon the great 
interior plain, than they perceived a mighty com¬ 
motion among the inhabitants of this secluded 
spot. Ghouls, afrites, and all sorts of demons 
were running towards them in a great state of 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


139 


excitement; and as they approached, they formed 
into a solid body, evidently intending to repel the 
invaders. There was no mistaking their inten¬ 
tions ; for they hurled at the Giant a volley of 
spears and javelins that would have annihilated 
any one who was not so large, and who had not 
on such strong and secure chain-armor. 

As to our two smaller friends, they were safe 
enough behind the Giant’s legs. Giving his club 
a swing, Tur-il-i-ra stepped forward, and let it 
drive right into the middle of the crowd, crushing 
some sixty of them, and sending the rest howling 
in every direction. 

Being thus rid, for a time, of these opposers, 
the Giant picked up his club, and, followed by the 
Prince and Trumkard, advanced towards the tower. 
Although Tur-il-i-ra strode along at a great rate, 
the Prince got to the tower first, and immediately 
commenced shouting to his Princess. She, how¬ 
ever, did not make her appearance, for she was 
still in a swoon. So the Prince ran around to 
the door to see if, by chance, it was open, but 
found it locked. He saw, however, the hilt of his 
sword still in the lock, and, seizing it, he again 
used his utmost strength to pull it out, but in 
vain. The Giant, who had just come up, perceiv- 


140 


TING-A-LING. 


ing what he was trying to do, stooped down, and, 
taking hold of the hilt in his finger and thumb, 
gave it a jerk, and out it came. He handed it, 
with a smile, to the Prince, who, overjoyed at 
regaining his favorite weapon, jumped around to 
see if there was anybody he could stick it into; 
but as all the Yabouks and other cattle were stand¬ 
ing at a respectful distance, and there was ouly 
old Trumkard running up, he thought better of 
the matter, and put his sword into its scabbard, 
feeling himself a man again. The Giant walked 
round the tower, putting his eye to the windows, 
but said he could see nothing. 

“ Look in the upper window! ” shouted the 
Prince; “that is the Princess’s room.” 

“ Yes ! here she is ! ” cried the old fellow, peer¬ 
ing on tiptoe into the upper room. “ And fast 
asleep on the floor ! That wretch of a witch has 
not even given her a bed.” Then, clapping his 
great hands against the side of the tower, he 
cried, — “ Wake up, sweet Princess!” in a voice 
so loud that the poor young lady thought it was 
thunder, and sprang to her feet trembling with 
fright. Seeing the face of a strange Giant at 
the window, she was so much more terrified that 
it is probable she would have fainted away again, 
had she not heard the Prince’s voice. 





















































THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


143 


“ Lift me up ! 55 cried the Prince, jumping 
about, almost mad with impatience. “ Put me 
in, quick, good^Giant, if she is there! ” So the 
Giant took hiny up, and put him right in at the 
window# When the Princess saw him, her face 
flushed, and her eyes flashed with joy. Starting 
back imd stamping one foot, she cried,—“My 
Prince! ” 

And lie, starting back and stamping one foot, 
cried, — “ My Princess ! ” 

And then they rushed into each other’s arms, 
and you could have heard the kissing ever so far. 

Old Trumkard w 7 as nearly tickled to death, and 
ran around on his toes, trying insanely to reach 
up ; but he couldn’t see anything, — not he ! As 
for the Giant, he could see first-rate, and he stood 
looking in at the window, with such a broad grin 
on his face, that one might almost have driven 
a horse and wagon down his throat. 

In a short time the Prince and Princess made 
their appearance at the window, and requested 
to be taken down. When the Giant had deposited 
them safely on the ground, they embraced each 
other, and then Trumkard ; and, turning to Tur-il- 
i-ra, they made him a very pretty speech, expres¬ 
sive of gratitude and eternal remembrance. 


144 


TING-A-LING. 


These little duties having been performed, there 
seemed nothing more to be done but to quit the 
mountain by the way they came. But, as they 
were about leaving the tower, they were startled 
by a sudden burst of yells and howls, and saw, 
issuing from the brazen gate by which the Prince 
had first entered, a great crowd, which was ap¬ 
proaching them at full speed, headed by Mah- 
bracca, who skipped along at an astonishing rate. 

Our friends did not attempt to retreat. Indeed, 
the enemy was upon them almost as soon as they 
perceived their danger. 

Mahbracca stepped to one side, and the crowd, 
opening, discovered in the midst forty-seven spot¬ 
ted demons, who carried a great copper brazier, 
like an enormous covered pot, which they quickly 
set down, almost at the feet of the Giant. 

“ Off with the lid ! ” shouted Mahbracca, and 
instantly a number of the slaves seized the cover 
and dragged it off, when a great, thick, poisonous 
smoke burst out of it, which would have destroyed 
our friends in a few moments, had not they invol¬ 
untarily sprung back and clapped their handker¬ 
chiefs to their faces. However, they could not have 
lived more than half a minute, had not the Giant, 
with admirable presence of mind and surprising 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


145 


quickness, given the brazier such a tremendous 
kick with one of his heavy boots, that he sent it 
more than a mile and a half, into the midst of a 
distant herd of Yabouks, which were all instantly 
sullocated by the dense cloud of poisonous smoke 
which covered them, as the brazier fell, upside- 
down, right over the leader of the herd, who, 
giving one great bellow, instantly crisped up into 
nothing. The Giant and his party did not dare 
to draw breath until they had run a considerable 
distance; but, notwithstanding this precaution, 
the Princess presently sank down, very pale and 
faint; for her handkerchief, being of the finest 
cambric, did not prevent her from slightly smell¬ 
ing the horrid vapor, although she did not inhale 
any of it. However, the fresher air, and the vig¬ 
orous efforts of the Prince, soon restored her. 

Mahbracca, stupefied for a moment at her utter 
discomfiture, and deserted by her followers, stood 
gazing blankly at the scene. What she intended 
doing next, was not long doubtful; for, taking a 
magical wand from her pocket, she bade the Giant, 
with a wave of her wand, turn into a camelopard. 
As he did not seem in a hurry to obey, she com¬ 
manded him to become a hippopotamus, and then 
an elephant. He positively declined, however, to 
10 


146 


TING-A-LING. 


turn into any of these animals, owing to his hav¬ 
ing taken the precaution, before leaving his cas¬ 
tle, to drink a bottle of anti-enchantment water. 
The old sorceress now became so enraged that she 
could scarcely speak, but stood stamping her feet, 
and shaking her fist at the great Tur-il-i-ra, who, 
leaning on his club, waited with a smile for her 
next attempt upon him. 

At this moment the Prince perceived, a short 
distance behind Malibracca, a small, black, and 
shining demon, whom he immediately recognized 
as the little fellow he had seen in pickle. The 
young rascal was pulling and tugging at a great 
wire machine that had been dropped by the fol¬ 
lowers of Malibracca when they ran away. He 
beckoned to the Prince to come and help him ; and 
the latter, whispering to the Princess to keep be¬ 
hind the Giant, slipped quietly around to the rear 
of the angry sorceress, and assisted the little fel¬ 
low to place the wire affair (which was nothing 
less than the “ prince-trap ” that Malibracca had 
made) directly behind the old hag, with the door 
right at her back. The Giant, perceiving this 
rapidly performed stratagem, raised his club, and 
made a step forward, as if, with one blow, he would 
crush Malibracca, who was just beginning to find 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


147 


her tongue. Startled by this sudden action, she 
stepped back quickly, and stumbled right over 
into the “ prince-trap.” For an instant she lay 
on her back, astounded, but quickly perceiving her 
predicament, she sprang to her feet, and with loud 
yells tried her best to get out. But it was of no 
use. The trap was made by the best rules of 
magic, and there was no such a thing as getting 
out, even if one was as small as a mouse. As for 
the little black fellow who had been in pickle, he 
laughed and danced until the old woman, glaring 
at him between the wires, ordered him to turn 
into a toad. But, unfortunately for her, she had 
dropped her magic wand outside of the cage, as 
she fell in, and the little demon, seeing this, 
merely laughed in her face, and running to the 
wand, picked it up, and ordered her to turn into a 
jackass, which she immediately did, and began to 
bray horribly. The little wretch was so delighted 
with this feat, that he turned about a dozen som¬ 
ersaults, and then, for the amusement of the Giant 
and his friends, he changed the old sorceress suc¬ 
cessively into a lion, a pig, an old hen, a turtle, a 
kangaroo, a boa-constrictor, an ape, a lobster, a 
cat, a crocodile, and a crane. He declared his 
intention of going through these exercises until 


148 


TING-A-LING. 


lie had used up the whole animal kingdom, and 
seemed delighted to think that he could have a 
complete menagerie in one cage. In order that 
he might pursue his amusement without interrup¬ 
tion, the Giant put him, with the cage, on the top 
of the tower ; and when our friends left the hollow 
mountain through the gap the Giant had made, 
the poor sorceress was being changed from bird to 
beast, and from beast to fish or reptile, as fast as 
the little demon was satisfied with her perform¬ 
ance in any one character; and he may be keeping 
up this amusing pastime yet, for all I know. 

When our party emerged into the open plain, it 
was night; but as the stars were quite bright, Tur- 
il-i-ra, carrying his smaller friends, and with his 
good club over his shoulder, took his way toward 
his castle. They had not travelled far before day¬ 
light appeared, and very soon afterward they saw 
in the distance what seemed to be a mighty army 
coming toward them. As it drew nearer, they per¬ 
ceived the glittering spears and the flags, and 
heard the sounds of drum and horn. This great 
multitude was nothing more than two or three 
hundred thousand of the inhabitants of the city 
of the mighty King, who were marching upon the 
stronghold of Malibracca. 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


14 


During the Prince’s hurried visit to the city, he 
had freely told the few persons with whom he 
had conversed of the place of imprisonment of the 
Pi •incess; and after he had left, the story spread 
rapidly. 

At last the excitement became so great that it 
ended in a grand revolt. The Prime Minister 
was seized and imprisoned, and the palace was 
searched; and when it was found that the Princess 
was indeed gone, the whole city put full faith in 
the Prince’s story, and all who could bear arms, or 
play music, and could possibly leave home, formed 
themselves into a great army, and started off for 
the cave of Malibracca. They travelled bravely 
until they neared the hollow mountain, and hoped 
soon to destroy the wicked Malibracca if they 
found that she was still alive, as the Prince had 
reported. 

As they approached the Giant, some of the van¬ 
guard recognized Trumkard, and others remem¬ 
bered having seen the Prin'ce before; and then 
when the Princess raised her head, as the Giant 
gently held her on his arm, thousands of the near¬ 
est of the army set up a great shout, — “The 
Princess ! the Princess ! ” 

Then came a rush, in which the Giant might 


i.50 


TIN G-A-LIN G. 


have had even his mighty legs taken from under 
him, had he not, with the presence of mind for 
which he was noted, mounted, at a bound, a toler¬ 
ably high rock, and, waving his hand for silence, 
demanded that the people should gather round and 
listen to him. He then made a speech which met 
with the greatest attention. He told the people 
everything that had happened on this adventure, 
and, having such a loud voice, they all heard what 
he had to say. He related the remarkable fate of 
Mahbracca, and advised his hearers to forget their 
wrath against her, as she must, for the rest of her 
life, be harmless, and to conduct the Princess back 
to the mighty city, and there to establish her in 
whatever rights she possessed, that is, if it were 
proved she had any at all. He also spoke in 
the highest terms of the Prince, and recom¬ 
mended his old friend Trumkard to their kindest 
consideration. When he had finished, the whole 
multitude applauded rapturously for some time, 
and in the midst of it all, he delivered up his 
proteges to the guardianship of the Head-man, 
who immediately had the Prince and Trumkard 
mounted upon magnificent chargers, and the 
Princess was placed in a palanquin of white silk, 
embroidered with diamonds, which had been 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


151 


brought on purpose for lier, in case they had 
had the good fortune to find her. 

The Giant was then about to leave them; but as 
the citizens would not hear of this, and as he was 
a rare good fellow, and did not object to festivities, 
he was persuaded to go with them. As they had 
no horse hig enough for him, he walked. 

The procession was then formed for the return 
march. First of all rode the Head-man, with a 
sword in one hand and a golden horn in the other. 
Then marched the professors of music. After 
them came all those of the army who could play 
on the trumpet; then the guard of honor, with the 
Prince and Princess; then Trumkard and the Gi¬ 
ant, and after them the immense host that could 
carry their weapons in one hand, and play upon 
the drum with the other. When they started, the 
drums were all beaten, the trumpets all blown, the 
horses neighed, the spears glittered, the banners 
flapped and fluttered, and there was never so brave 
an army in the world. 

From all the hills, and plains, and valleys, the 
people came flocking to see them as they passed. 
The enthusiasm was so great, that when night 
came on again, enormous bonfires were lighted on 
ootli sides of their road, and kept up with such 


152 


TING-A-LING. 


hearty good-will, that they travelled all night in a 
light as bright as day; and when the wood gave 
out, the peasants tore down their cottages, and 
threw them on the flames. 

As they proceeded, the professors of music com¬ 
posed marches, and when one was finished, they 
gave the manuscript to the Head-man, who, com¬ 
manding silence, blew the tune on his horn, and 
then the whole army struck up and played it 
grandly. ~Of these, the “ Giant’s Grand March ” 
• was the best. It was what might be called good, 
loud music. If it had thundered, it is not likely 
that it would have been heard in the grand final 
burst, when all the drums and trumpets beat and 
blew their very loudest. 

The Giant himself played in this march; for 
some of those who marched near him, seeing that 
he had no instrument, asked him if he would not 
like to play upon something. To which he re¬ 
plied that he did not care if he did. So they got 
for him the largest bass-drum. He was much 
pleased at this, and handing his club to two hun¬ 
dred porters, who accompanied the expedition, he 
beat away upon his drum in good style. This per¬ 
formance did not last long, however; for the first 
time they played the grand final burst, he beat in 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


158 


both drum-heads at the same time, and of course 
there was no more music from him. The people 
around him were very glad of this; for while he 
played, he became so much excited that he did not 
see where he was walking, and was continually 
treading upon some one. So they journeyed with 
joy and gladness until they reached the city of the 
mighty King, and all the people who had been left 
behind came out to meet them. Bells were rung, 
and all kinds of music played, and the people 
shouted, so that the oldest inhabitant never knew 
such a noise and excitement before. They entered 
the city, and the procession halted at the palace. 
Here the Princess, after embracing the Prince, 
was conducted to the ladies’ apartments, where 
her friends were so overjoyed at seeing her again, 
that one would have thought that they would never 
have got over it. The Prince, Trumkard, and the 
Giant were each shown to sumptuous apartments, 
and that night everybody in the palace had as 
much of everything good as they could eat. 

Twelve o’clock of the next day was the time ap¬ 
pointed for the Princess to make trial of the mag¬ 
ical music. The great hall of the palace was fitted 
up most magnificently, and with the utmost rapid¬ 
ity, for this great occasion. The chairs of the 


154 


TING-A-LING. 


judges were covered with new velvet, and nothing 
was omitted that could add to the regal splendor 
of the hall. At half-past ten the doors were 
opened, and the hall was immediately filled in 
every part, hut the small portion reserved for the 
principal actors in the ceremony. There were nine 
galleries, one above the other, around this truly 
immense room; and when it was all packed full 
of people from floor to dome, it was a wonderful 
spectacle indeed. 

At ten minutes of twelve, the procession en¬ 
tered the great hall. First came, along the cen¬ 
tre passage, which was covered with cloth of gold, 
a number of beautiful boys, who strewed the way 
with hyacinths, and jasmines, and the costly blos¬ 
soms of the century plant. After them were oth¬ 
ers, with golden water-pots, who sprinkled attar 
of roses before the Princess, who, dressed in the 
purest white silk, cut bias, and trimmed with pink 
fur, was escorted by the Prince. After them came 
the Prime Minister (released for the occasion), 
the nobles, etc., and the procession was closed by 
the guards of the palace, all dressed in blue and 
covered with diamonds. There was no music, nor 
scarcely any sound whatever, as they moved to¬ 
ward the judges, who were already sitting sol- 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


155 


emnly in their chairs. When the procession 
reached them, it halted, and the Princess was con¬ 
ducted to a chair in front of the music. Then the 
youngest judge arose, and uncovered the magical 
music. 

In all that hall, filled with such a multitude, 
there was breathless silence. It was so still that 
the little mice came out of their holes, thinking 
there was no one there. 

Then the Princess, timidly raising her eyes, ran 
them over the music, and began. It commenced 
softly and somewhat sadly, but soon, becoming 
louder and richer, the tones swelled high and 
clear, until the pure voice of the Princess thrilled 
through all the perfumed air. Then it became 
more and more glorious, until its beatific beauty 
caused many of the older hearers to die, and go 
straight to paradise. The close was inconceivably 
sweet; and when the last notes died away, the peo¬ 
ple bowed their heads in tearful peace, and all evil 
left their hearts, and to many of them it never 
returned. 

As they raised their heads, they saw the oldest 
judge arise and point with his golden wand to the 
vnarble tablet. The characters of the music had 
disappeared, and the vellum on which they had 


156 


TING-A-LING. 


been written was as white as snow. There was no 
need of any further decision. The judges de¬ 
scended from their chairs in profound silence, and 
the oldest and the youngest, each taking the 
Princess by the hand, led her up the steps to the 
throne, and seated her upon it. Then the Prime 
Minister took the crown from its velvet cushion, 
and placed it on her head, and, turning to the 
people, said in a voice, which sounded in the still¬ 
ness to all parts of the vast building, “ Behold 
your Queen! ” 

Then, as one man, that great multitude gave 
such a sudden, wild, tremendous shout, that it 
took the roof right off the top of the house, and 
the wood that fell in every direction outside, was 
enough to keep the poor people in kindling-wood 
all winter. 

The Giant, whirling his iron helmet around his 
head, now led off, with a thundering “ Hip, hip, 
hurra! ” in three cheers for the Queen. And three 
such cheers! 

The dense crowd outside took them up, and 
shook the very foundations of the city with their 
shouts; and the country people, and those at a 
great distance, heard the joyful sounds, and be¬ 
fore many minutes the whole country, for miles 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 157 

around, reverberated with cheers for the new- 
made Queen. 

As for the palace, it shook and trembled with 
the thunders of applause, still led by the Giant, 
who couldn’t be stopped. The people about him 
were all struck deaf in the ear nearest him, but 



the ear-doctors cured them all for nothing*, when 
they got outside, so full of charity was every one. 
At last, when every one, the Giant and all, were 
hoarse with shouting, the Prime Minister offered 
his hand to the Queen, and led her down from the 
throne. Then she motioned to the Prince to give 










158 


TING-A-LING. 


her his arm ; and at the head of the procession, he 
led her to the royal apartments, at the door of 
which he left her. The multitude then dispersed, 
and they spent the rest of that day in putting right 
the wrongs they had committed, and in making 
provision for future virtue. When the Queen had 
taken some refreshment, she put on an every-day 
crown, and repaired to the audience chamber to 
receive the visits of the various dignitaries of the 
kingdom, who came before her, and brought her 
their keys, and papers, and account-books. Giving 
each one back his keys, and ordering the papers 
and accounts to be deposited in a great pile on one 
side, where she might look over them at her 
leisure, she reappointed every man to the office 
he held before, and sent them away rejoicing. 
Then she called for writing materials and slaves, 
and commenced writing notes to the Prince. She 
would write one on gilded vellum, and, folding it, 
would hand it to the slave next to her, who dipped 
it in frankincense, and handed it to the next one, 
who sprinkled it with attar of roses, and passed it 
to the next, who ran with it as hard as ever he 
could to the Prince. For in that kingdom it was 
not considered proper for lovers to visit much. 

This performance the Queen kept up all the 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


159 


afternoon, writing as fast as she could, and only 
stopping long enough to read the answers which 
the slaves brought her as they returned. At last, 
they came back, bringing with them her last notes 
unopened, saying that the Prince had gone to 
sleep. At which intelligence she shed some tears, 
but then, like a sensible Queen, had her supper, 
and went to bed. 

The next day the marriage of the Queen and 
the Prince took place, and it was a glorious affair 
indeed. Twenty-four historians were appointed by 
the Crown to write the history of it; they were 
paid by the quarter, and it took them a long time, 
I can assure you. 

The whole of the wedding-day, the festivities 
were kept up, and all the eating, and drinking, and 
merry-making, was at the royal expense. During 
the day and night everybody spent, and gave away 
to the poor, all the wealth they possessed, and in 
the morning it was all paid back to them by the 
royal Treasurer. In the country, the people feasted 
grandly on their own herds, and drank up their 
own wines, and they were also reimbursed by the 
Crown. 

But the great feature of the royal marriage was 
the decree, proclaimed at noon of the wedding- 


160 


TING-A-LING. 


day, that all persons married on that day should 
be set up in housekeeping, free of expense! 

Never, in the history of that or any other king¬ 
dom, were priests kept so busy as those in this 
city. They worked as hard as they could, but at 
three o’clock they were obliged to commence mar¬ 
rying the folks by squads; and so, before supper- 
time, there was not a bachelor or maid in the 
whole city, — excepting an old bobstay spinner, 
— one of the Grossest of old maids, who hated 
men so much that she had not spoken to one for 
forty years; and a crabbed bachelor, who despised 
women so completely that he never had his clothes 
washed, because it would have to be done by fe¬ 
males. 

At midnight, the priest Ali-bo-babem was called 
out of his bed, and found at the door, desiring to 
be married, the crabbed old bachelor and the cross 
old maid. These two did not live long, but all 
the rest of the people were very happy for many 
years. 

About three o’clock of the morning after the 
great w^edding-day, the Giant Tur-il-i-ra arrived 
at his castle gate. He had walked all the way 
home, and he felt in such a good humor that the 
road never seemed so short to him before. But, 


THE MAGICAL MUSIC. 


161 


for some reason, be could not open the gate. 
There seemed to be an unusual number of locks 
and bolts, and the big key he carried did not seem 
to fit any of the numerous key-holes. He could 
easily reach over and undo the bolts, but the locks 
were too much for him; and, I am sorry to say, he 
got a little angry, and was about to take his club 
and smash his magnificent gate, when his wife, 
who had been sitting up for him, and had heard 
the noise he had been making, came down and 
let him in. 

They went together into the great hall, and 
there Tur-il-i-ra sat down before the fire. His 
wife, who thought a great deal of the good Giant, 
was sorry to see that he was silent and rather 
grum. 

“ What makes you look so, my dear?” said she. 
“ Did you not have a good time ? ” 

“ 0 yes,” said he, “good enough, — but that 
gate put me out. I wonder what’s the matter 
with it. It’s got to be fixed. I won’t be bothered 
and worried in this way.” 

“ It shall all be made right in the morning,” 
said his wife. “ But are you sure you did not take 
anything that disagreed with you while you were 
away ? ” 


it 


162 


TING-A-LING. 


“ Perhaps I did,” said he. “ It might have 
been the mince-pies. They told me they were 
temperance pies, but I don’t believe it.” 

“ How many did you eat, my dear ? ” asked the 
good Giantess. 

“ Well, I don’t know,” said her husband. 
“ About ten or eleven hundred, I suppose.” 

“ That was too many for you,” said his wife. 
“ And I think you had better go to bed, and I will 
bring you something to make you feel better.” 

So the Giant went to bed, and as he slowly as¬ 
cended the stairs, he winked to himself with his 
right eye. And his wife, she went into the 
kitchen, and winked to herself with lieHeft eye. 

After a while she came up to the Giant, and 
brought a barrel of hot chamomile tea; and when 
he had drank it all, she tucked him in, nice and 
warm, and the next morning he felt as well as 


ever. 


TING-A-LING’S VISIT TO TUIM-LI-IU. 


- ♦ - 

One pleasant sunny day, the Giant Tnr-il-i-ra 
was lying* on his back on the grass, under some 
great trees, in a wood near the palace of the King. 

His feet were high above the rest of his body, 
resting in the crotch of a great oak-tree, and he 
lay with his vest open and his hat off, idly sucking 
the pith from a young sapsago-tree that he had 
just broken off. Near him, on the top of a tall 
bulrush, sat the little fairy Ting-a-ling. They 
had been talking together for some time, and Tur- 
il-i-ra said, “ Ting-a-ling, you must come and see 
me. You have never been to my castle except when 
you came for the good of somebody else. Come 
now for yours and mine, and stay at least a week. 
We will have a gay old time. Will you come? ” 

“ I will,” cried the little fairy, in a voice as 
clear as the chirp of a cricket. “ I’ll come when¬ 
ever you say so.” 

“ Let it be to-morrow, then,” said the Giant. 
“ Shall I fetch you? ” 

“ 0 no,” said Ting-a-ling; “ I will come on my 



164 


TING-A-LING. 


blue butterfly. You have no idea how fast he flies. 
I do believe he could go to your castle nearly as 
fast as you could yourself.” 

“ All right,” said Tur-il-i ra, rising. “ Come as 
you please, but be sure you come to stay.” 

Then the Giant got up, and he shook himself, and 
buttoned his vest, and put on his hat; and as he 
had thin boots on, he told Ting-a-ling he was 
going to see if he couldn’t take the river at one 
jump. So, tightening his belt, and going back for 
a good run, he rushed to the river bank, and with 
a spring like the jerk of five mad elephants, lie 
bounded across. But the opposite bank was not 
hard enough to resist the tremendous fall of so 
many tons of giant as came upon it when Tur-il-i- 
ra’s feet touched its edge ; and it gave way, and his 
feet went up and his back came down, and into the 
river, like a ship dropping out of the sky, went the 
mighty Giant. The splash was so great that the 
whole air, for a minute or two, was full of water 
and spray, and Ting-a-ling could see nothing at 
all. When things had become visible again, there 
was Tur-il-i-ra standing up to the middle of his 
thighs in the channel of the river, and brushing 
from his eyes and his nose the water that trickled 
from him like little brooks. 


TING-A-LING’R VISIT TO TUR-IL-I-RA. 165 

“ Hel-l-o-o-o ! ” cried Ting-a-ling. “ Are you 
hurt?” 

“ O no ! ” spluttered the Giant. “ The water 
and the mud were soft enough, but I’m nearly 
blinded and choked. ” 

“ It's a good thing it isn't worse,” cried the fairy. 
“ If that river had not been so broad, you would 
have broken your neck when you came down.” 

“ Good-by! ” cried the Giant, stepping upon the 
bank ; “I must hurry home as fast as I can.” And 
so away he went over the hills at a run, and you 
may rest assured that he did not jump any more 
rivers that day. 

The next morning early, Ting-a-ling mounted 
his blue butterfly, and over the fields he went al¬ 
most as fast as a bird, for bis was a butterfly of the 
desert, where they have to fly very far for anything 
to eat, and to race for it very often at that. Ting- 
a-ling took nothing with him but what he wore, 
but his “ things ” and his best clothes were to be 
sent after him on a beetle, which, though slow, was 
very strong, and could have carried, if he chose, 
everything that Ting-a-ling had. About sunset, 
the fairy and the butterfly, the latter very tired, 
arrived at the castle of Tur-il-i-ra, and there, at the 
great door, stood the Giant, expecting them, with 


TING-A-LTNG. 


166 

his face beaming with hospitality aiul delight. He 
had had his slaves, for the whole afternoon, scat¬ 
tered along the road by which his visitor would 
come; and they were commanded to keep a sharp 
lookout for a blue butterfly, and pass the word to 
the castle when they saw it coming. So Tur-il-i-ra 
was all ready; and as he held out his finger, the 
butterfly was glad enough to fly up and light upon 
it. The good Giant took them both into the house, 
and the butterfly was put on a top-shelf, where 
there were some lioney-jars, and if he didn’t eat! 

Supper was all ready, and Tur-il-i-ra sat down to 
the table on a chair which was bigger than some 
houses, while Ting-a-ling sat cross-legged on a 
napkin, opposite to him. The Giant had everything 
nice. There was a pair of roast oxen, besides a 
small boiled whale, and a great plate of fricasseed 
elks. As for vegetables, there were boat-loads of 
mashed potatoes, and turnips, and beans; and there 
was a pie which was as big as a small back-yard. 
The Giant had a splendid appetite, and before sup¬ 
per was over he had eaten up most of these things. 
As for little Ting-a-ling, he had only got half way 
through his third grain of boiled rice, when the 
Giant was done. But he could eat no more; and 
after scooping up about a drop of wine in a little 


TING-A-LING’S VISIT TO TUR-IL-I-RA. 167 

cup lie carried with him, he drank the health of 
Tur-il-i-ra, and then they went out on the front 
porch, where the Giant ordered his big pipe to be 
brought, and he had a smoke. When Tur-il-i-ra 
had finished his pipe, and Ting-a-ling had nearly 
sneezed himself to death, and the whole atmos¬ 
phere, for about a mile around the castle, was 
foggy with smoke, they went in to bed. 

Tur-il-i-ra took Ting-a-ling up-stairs, and showed 
him where he was to sleep; and then putting him 
down on the bed, he bade him good-night, and 
went out and shut the door after him. 

Ting-a-ling stood in the middle of the bed and 
looked about him. It was as if he was in the midst 
of a great plain. The bed was a double one, that 
had belonged to the Giant’s father and mother, and 
he had given it to Ting-a-ling because it was the 
best in the house. The little fairy was delighted 
with this bed, which was very smooth, and covered 
with a great white counterpane. He ran from one 
end to the other of it, and he turned heels-over- 
head, and walked on his hands, and amused him¬ 
self in this way until he was thoroughly tired. Then 
he lay right down in the very middle, and went to 
sleep. I would like to have a picture of Ting-a- 
ling in the Giant’s bed, but any one can draw it so 


168 


TING-A-LING. 


easily for himself, that it is of no use to have it here. 
All that is necessary is to take a large sheet of 
white paper, — the largest you can get, — and in 
the centre of it make a small dot, — the smallest 
you can make, — and there you have the picture. 

It must have been nearly morning when Ting-a- 
ling was awakened by a tremendous knocking at 
the front-door of the castle. The first thought he 
had was that perhaps, there were^ his things ! But 
he forgot that a very small, and probably tired-out 
fairy (for Parsley’s younger brother was to come 
with the baggage), in charge of a beetle in the 
same condition, could hardly make such a thunder¬ 
ing noise as that. But he jumped up and slid 
down on the floor, and as his room was a front one, 
he went to the window, and climbing up the cur¬ 
tains, got outside and looked down. There, in the 
moonlight, he saw an ordinary sized man on horse¬ 
back, directing about a dozen black slaves, who had 
hold of a long rope, which they had tied to the 
knocker of Tur-il-i-ra’s door. They were all pull¬ 
ing away at it as hard as they could (and a mighty 
pounding they made too), when the Giant put his 
head out of his window, and asked what all this 
noise meant. 

“ 0 good Tur-il-i-ra! ” cried the man on the 





































































































































































































TING-A-LING’S VISIT TO TUR-IL-I-RA. 171 


horse, “ I have ridden for several days ” (he said 
nothing about his slaves having run all the way) 
“ to come to you, and tell you that the Kyrofatal- 
apynx is loose.” 

What! ” cried Tur-il-i-ra, in a voice like the 
explosion of a powder magazine. “ Loose ! ” 

“ Yes,” said the man. “ He’s been loose for 
four days.” 

The Giant pulled in his head, and Ting-a-ling 
could hear him hurrying down-stairs to open the 
great door. The man came in and all the slaves, 
and as a good many of Tur-il-i-ra’s people were up 
by this time, there was a great hubbub of voices in 
the lower hall; but though Ting-a-ling listened up 
by the banisters until the cold wind on the staircase 
had nearly frozen his little bare legs (which were 
not much longer than your finger-nail, and about 
as thick as a big darning-needle), he could make 
out nothing at all of the talk. So he went back to 
the bed, and got in under the edge of the counter¬ 
pane, and lay there, with just his head sticking 
out, until he dropped asleep. At daybreak Tur-il- 
l-ra came into the room, and stooping over the bed, 
called to him to get up, as there was to be an early 
breakfast. As the Giant carried him down-stairs 
on his finger, he told the fairy that he was deeply 


172 


TING-A-LING. 


grieved, but that he would be obliged to leave him 
for the rest of the day, on account of the Kyrofatal- 
apynx having broken loose. 

“ But what is that? ” asked Ting-a-ling. 

“ Why, don’t you know? It is a — Look here, 
you fellows! Didn’t I tell you that breakfast was 
to be all ready when I came down ? What do you 
mean, you lazy rascals? Skip, now, and have every¬ 
thing ready this minute.” 

And the men skipped, and the cooks cooked, and 
the fires blazed, and the pots boiled aud bubbled, 
and the Giant sat down in a great hurry, with the 
man who came on horseback sitting cross-legged 
on one side of the table, and Ting-a-ling on the 
other. So he forgot to finish his sentence about the 
Kyrofatalapynx. During the meal there was noth¬ 
ing but noise and confusion, and Ting-a-ling could 
not get in a word. The Giant had a dish of broiled 
sheep before him, and he was crunching them up 
as fast as he could, and talking, with his mouth 
full, to the man all the time; and the slaves and 
the servants were all eating and drinking, and 
running about, until there was no hearing one’s 
own voice, unless it was a very big one. So, al¬ 
though Ting-a-ling was dying of curiosity to know 
what the Kyrofatalapynx was, he could not get an 
answer from any one. 


TING-A-LING’S VISIT TO TUE-IL-I-RA. 173 

As soon as the Giant was done eating, lie jumped 
np, and shouted for his hat and his boots; and 
if the men did not run fast enough, he shouted 
at them all the louder. If Ting-a-ling had not 
stayed on the table, I don’t know what would 
have become of him in the confusion. The Giant 
had now pushed off his slippers, and was waiting 
until the men should bring his boots; and as one 
lazy fellow was poking around, as if he was half 
asleep, Tur-il-i-ra was so irritated at his slowness 
that he slipped the toe of his stockinged foot under 
him, and gave him a tremendous send right out 
of the door, and he went flying over the trees at 
the bottom of the lawn, and over the barley-field 
on the other side of the ditch, and over the pas¬ 
ture, where the cows were kept, and over the pom¬ 
egranate orchard, and over the palm-grove by the 
little lake, and over Hassan ab Kolyar’s cottage, 
right smack down into the soft marsh, back of the 
sunflower garden; and he didn’t get back to the 
castle until his master had been gone an hour. 
As the Giant sat on the edge of the table, pulling 
on his boots, he told Ting-a-ling that he must 
make himself as comfortable as possible until he 
came back, and that he would not be gone longer 
than he could possibly help. But although the 


174 


TING-A-LING. 


fairy asked him again and again to tell him what 
the Kyrofatalapynx was, he never seemed to hear 
him, so busy was he, talking to everybody at once. 
Now Tur-il-i-ra was nearly ready to go, and Ting- 
a-ling was standing close to the fringe on his 
scarf, which lay over one end of the table. 



“ How I should like to go with him,” said the 
little fairy, and he took hold of the fringe. “ But 
he doesn’t want me, or he would take me along. 
I would ask him, if he would only be quiet a min¬ 
ute ” — 

Just then up jumped the Giant; and as Ting-a- 





TING-A-LING’S VISIT TO TUR-IL-I-RA. 175 


ling bad not let go of the fringe, lie was jerked up 
too. He held on bravely; and as he did not wish 
to swing about on the scarf, he climbed up to the 
Giant's shoulder, and took tight hold of his long 
hair. With the man and his slaves in a large 
round basket in one hand, and his great club in 
the other, away went Tur-il-i-ra, with strides 
longer than across the street, and he walked so 
fast, that Ting-a-ling had to hold on tight, to 
keep from being blown away. 

About noon they came to a large palace, sur¬ 
rounded by smaller dwellings; and on the porch 
of the palace there stood a King and a Queen and 
three princesses, and they were all crying. On the 
steps, in the grounds and gardens, and everywhere, 
were the lords and ladies, and common people, 
and they were all crying too. When these discon¬ 
solate people saw the Giant approaching, they set 
up a great shout of joy, and rushed to meet him, 
calling out, “ 0, the Kyrofatalapynx has broken 
loose! ” 

Tur-il-i-ra went up to the palace, and sat down 
on the great portico, with his feet on the ground, 
and the people told him (all speaking at once, and 
not having even manners enough to let the King 
have the first say) that the Kyrofatalapynx had 


176 


TIN G-A-LIN G. 


grown awfully strong and savage since the Giant 
had tied him up, and that he had at last broken 
loose, and was now ravaging the country. He had 
carried off ever so many camels, and horses, and 
sheep, and oxen, and had threatened to eat up 
every person in those parts, who was under age. 
But since he had found out that they had sent for 
Tur-il-i-ra, he had gone into the forest, and they 
knew not when he would come forth. Then up 
spoke a woodman above all the clamor, and he said 
he knew when he would come out, for he had been 
in the forest that morning, and had stumbled on 
the Kyrofatalapynx, which was so busy making 
something that he did not see him ; and he heard 
him mutter to himself, over and over again, 
“When he comes, I’ll rush out and finish him, 
and then I'll be head of them all. 55 

“All right,” cried Tur-il-i-ra. “ I’ll wait down 
there by the edge of the forest; and when he sees 
me, he can rush out, and then you will all soon 
know who will be finished. ” 

So the Giant went over to the wood, and sat 
down and waited. After a while, he got very sleepy, 
and he thought he would take a little nap until 
the Kyrofatalapynx should come. In order that 
the people might wake him up in time, he tied a 


TING-A-LING’S VISIT TO TUR-IL-I-RA. 177 

long 1 rope to one of bis ear-rings (his eyes had 
been a little weak in his youth), and everybody 
took hold of the end of the rope, and they prom¬ 
ised to pull good and hard when they heard the 
trees crushing in the forest. So the Giant went to 
sleep, and the people all listened for the Kyrofa- 
talapynx, — holding their breaths, and standing 
ready to jerk the rope when he should come. 

Poor little Tiog-a-ling was nearly consumed 
with curiosity. What was the Kyrofatalapynx ? 
He slipped down to the ground without being 
noticed by anybody; and, as they all seemed so 
intent listening and watching, he felt afraid to 
speak to any of them. Directly a happy thought 
struck him. 

“ I will go into the wood myself. Whatever 
the Kyfymytaly-gyby is, he won’t be likely to see 
me, and I can run and tell Tur-il-i-ra where he 
is, before he comes out of the wood.” 

So away he went, and soon was deep in the 
darkness of the forest. But he could hear no 
noise, and saw nothing that appeared to have 
life. Even the very birds and insects seemed to 
have flown away. After wandering some distance, 
he suddenly met a fairy, a little bit of a fellow, 
but somewhat larger than himself, and entirely 
12 


178 


TING-A-LING- 


green. Ting-a-ling spoke to him, and told him 
what he was after, 

“ That isn’t exactly his name,” said the green 
fairy, politely, “but 1 know what you mean. If 
you come this way, I can show him to you.” 

So Ting-a-ling followed him, and presently they 
came to the edge of an opening in the middle of 
the forest; and there, sure enough, was the Kyro- 
fatalapynx. With one of his great red tails coiled 
around an immense oak-tree, and the other around 
a huge rock, he sat with his elephantine legs 
gathered up under him, as if he were about to 
spring over the tree-tops. But he had no such 
idea. In his great hands, as big as travelling- 
trunks, he held a long iron bar, one end of which 
he was sharpening against a stone. By his side 
lay an immense bow, made of a tall young yew- 
tree, and the cord was a long and tough grape¬ 
vine. As he sat sharpening this great arrow, he 
grinned until his horrid teeth looked like a pale- 
fence around a little garden, and he muttered to 
himself as he worked away, — “ Four hundred and 
nine more rubs, and I can send it twang through 
him ; twang, twang, twang! ” 

“Isn’t he horrid?” whispered Ting-a-ling. 

“ Yes, indeed,” said the green fairy. “ When 


TING-A-LING’S VISIT TO TUR-IL-I-RA. 179 

he was young, lie came out of the mouth of a 
volcano; and the King here, who is very fond of 
wonderful things, got Tur-il-i-ra to catch him, 
and chain him up for him in a great yard he had 
made for him. But now that he is grown up, no 
chains can hold him, and I expect he will kill the 
Giant with that great iron arrow, before he can 
come near him.” 

“ O ! ” cried Ting-a-ling, “ he mustn’t do that. 
We must never let him do that! ” 

u We!” said the fairy, in a voice of astonish¬ 
ment. 

“ Yes, yes, I mean us. 0, what shall we do ? 
Let’s cut his bowstring,” said Ting-a-ling, in great 
excitement, and drawing his little sword. The 
green fairy, although polite, could not help laugh¬ 
ing at this idea; but Ting-a-ling slipped softly to 
where the bow was lying, a little behind the 
Kyrofatalapynx, and commenced to cut away at it; 
but although the green fairy took the sword when 
he was tired, they could make but little impres¬ 
sion on the stout grape-vine, nearly as thick as 
they were high. 

“ Let’s nick the sword,” said Ting-a-ling, “and 
then it will be a saw.” And so, with a sharp lit¬ 
tle flint, they nicked the edge of it, and the edge 


TDvG-A-LING. 


1*0 

of the green fairy’s knife (for lie had no sword), 
and as they commenced to saw away as hard as 
they could at the grape-vine, they heard the 
Kyrofatalapynx muttering, “ Only three hundred 
and seven more rubs, aud then — twang, twang, 
twang! ” 

They worked like little heroes now; and as 
the fairy’s sword was of the sharpest steel, they 
cut a good way into the vine; but just when 
they were nearly tired out, they heard the words, 
— “ Ninety-three more rubs, aud — twang, twang, 
twang! ” 

“ 0, let’s saw, let’s saw,” cried Ting-a-ling (and 
it’s a wonder the Kyrofatalapynx did not hear 
him), and they worked as hard as they did at 
first. 

“ Six more rubs, and — twang, twang, twang ! ” 
cried the Kyrofatalapynx, and the two little fairies 
fell down exhausted and disheartened. The vine 
w r as cut but little more than half through. 

Up rose the mighty creature; and with his 
bow and arrow in his hands, he pushed quietly 
through the wood. The two fairies jumped up 
in a few minutes, and hurried after him; and as 
he went very slowly, so as not to be perceived, 
they reached the edge of the wood just as he 
crashed out into the open field. 


TING-A-LING’S VISIT TO TUR-IL-I-RA. 181 


“ 0 !!!” shouted all the people, and they pulled 
the rope with a terrible jerk. Up sprang the 
Giant, but there stood the Kyrofatalapynx, with 
his long iron arrow already fitted into his bow. 
“ Ha, ha !” he cried, “ I shall put it through you 
— twang ! 99 And he drew his arrow to its very 
head, and all the people fell down on their faces, 
and even Tur-il-i-ra turned a little pale. But 
snap! went the bowstring, and down fell the 
arrow ! Then up rushed the Giant, and with one 
crushing blow of his rock-knobbed club, he laid 
the Kyrofatalapynx stone-dead ! 

The King, and the Queen, and the princesses, 
and all the people, jumped up, and in their wild 
joy they would have kissed the clothes off the 
good Giant, had he been willing to wait. 

“ All right! ” he cried ; “ I must be off. I’ve 
a friend at home waiting for me. No thanks. 
You can stuff him now. Good-by ! 99 

And away he went, and poor little Ting-a-ling 
was left behind! 

When he saw the Giant walking away like a 
steam-engine on stilts, Ting-a-ling began to cry. 

“ Did you come with him ? ” said the green 
fairy. “Well, he’s gone, and you can live with 
me now.” 


182 


TING-A-LING 


But Ting-a-ling was so overcome with sorrow, 
and begged so hard that his new friend should 
tell him of some way to follow the Giant, that 
the latter, after thinking a while, took him up 
into the King’s pigeon-house. Warning him to 
be careful not to let any of the birds pick him 
up, the green fairy pointed out a gray pigeon to 
Ting-a-ling. 

<c Now,” said he, “ if we can get a string around 
the middle feather of his tail, we are all right.” 

“ How so ? ” asked Ting-a-ling. 

“ Why, then you get on, and start him off, and 
by pulling the string you can make him go any 
way you wish; for you know he steers himself 
with his tail.” 

“ Good! ” cried Ting-a-ling, and they both 
looked for a string. When they had found one, 
they stole up to the pigeon, who was eating corn, 
and tied it fast to the middle feather of his tail, 
without his knowing anything about it. 

“ Now jump on and I’ll start him off,” said the 
green fairy; and Ting-a-ling ran up the pigeon’s 
tail (which almost touched the floor), and took his 
seat on its back, holding tight on to its feathers. 
Then the green fairy ran around by the pigeon’s 
head, and shouted in its ear, as it was pecking 
corn, — “ Hawk! ” 


TING-A-LING’S VISIT TO TIJR-IL-I-RA. 183 

The bird just lifted up its head, and gave one 
shoot right out of the window of the pigeon-house. 
It went high up into the air; and Ting-a-ling, 
when he looked around and saw which way he 
ought to go, pulled his string this way and that 
way, and he found that he could steer the pigeon 
very well, and even make him keep up in the air, 
hj pulling his tail-feather straight up. So on 
they went, and they got to the Giant’s castle 
before the Giant himself. The pigeon Hew over 
the castle, but Ting-a-ling steered him back 
again, and backward and forward, two or three 
times, until the bird thought he might as well 
stop there; and so he alighted on the roof, and 
oft* jumped Ting-a-ling. The first thing he saw 
there, after the pigeon had flown away again, 
was the green fairy ! 

“Why, where did you come from? ” cried Ting- 
a-ling. 

“ 0,” said the other, laughing, and jumping up 
and down, “ I thought I’d come too, and I hung 
on to his leg. It was nice, sitting up among his 
warm feathers, when his legs were curled up 
under him; a great deal better than being on 
top.” 

Ting-a-ling was very glad to have his fr’ 


184 


TING-A-LING. 


with him, and he took him down-stairs. When 
the Giant got home, there they were, both in the 
middle of the table in the great hall, ready to 
welcome him. Tur-il-i-ra did not ask where the 
green fairy came from; but he was glad to see 
him, and he ordered supper to be laid on a table 
out on the lawn ; for he was warm with his long 
walk. After supper, the two fairies came down 
to the Giant’s end of the table, and he told them 
all that had happened, and how fortunate it was 
that the bowstring of the Kyrofatalapynx had 
broken. 

“ He did it! ” cried the green fairy, pointing 
to Ting-a-ling; and then he told the whole story 
of their doings, and Ting-a-ling had to explain 
how he had gone with the Giant. Tur-il-i-ra lis¬ 
tened until they had quite finished, and then 
exclaimed, “ Well ! I never saw such a little thing 
as you are, Ting-a-ling, for being in the right 
place at the right time. Never, never ! ” And 
he brought his hand down on the table with such 
an emphatic bang, that Ting-a-ling and the green 
fairy shot into the air like rifle-balls. Ting-a- 
ling went up, up, and up, until a high wind took 
him, and it blew him over a river, and a wood, 
a high hill, and a wide plain; and then he 


TING-A-LING’S VISIT TO TUR-IL-I-RA. 185 


fell down, down, down, — right into the middle 
of a soft powder puff-ball, with which a lady was 
powdering her neck. 

“ Mercy on us ! 99 cried the lady, when she saw 
a little fairy in the puff-ball that she was just 
going to put up to her throat. 



“ It’s only I, Nerralina, ,, cried Ting-a-ling, 
who immediately recognized her; “ wait a min¬ 
ute, until I get my breath.” 

Sure enough, it was Nerralina, the Princess’s 
lady, who had been on a visit to her mother, in a 
distant country, and returning, had ordered her 
slaves to pitch her tent where she now was, about 


186 


TING-A-LING. 


half a day’s journey from the palace. Ting-a- 
ling told his story, aud they had a nice time, talk¬ 
ing of their past adventures; and in the morning 
Nerralina took Ting-a-ling with her to his home 
in the palace gardens. 

As to the green fairy, he came down in a spi¬ 
der web. When he got out and stood on the 
grass, he said, “ I shali not go back to that Giant. 
He is good, but he is too violent.” 

So he went to the river and got a nice chip, 
and he loaded it with honeysuckles and clover 
blossoms, and pushed it off into the strealn; he 
then lay down on his back in the middle of his 
clover, and, sucking a honeysuckle, floated away 
in the moonlight, down to his home, where he 
arrived in two or three days, just as his honey¬ 
suckles were all gone. 

When Tur-il-i-ra saw what he had done, he was 
in great trouble indeed. He ordered all his slaves 
to bring their little children, and he gathered up 
great handfuls of them, and spread them out all 
over the grass, so that they might look for the two 
lost fairies. But of course they could not find 
them; and just as the sun was setting, and the 
Giant was going to bed in despair, there came a 
horseman from Nerralina, telling him that Ting- 


TING-A-LING’S VISIT TO TUR-IL-I-RA. 187 


a-ling was safe, and was going home with her. 
Early in the morning Tur-il-i-ra went to the 
palace gardens, and Ting-a-ling seeing him, they 
went down to the wood where they were when 
this story opened. Tur-il-i-ra wanted Ting-a-ling 
to go back and finish his visit. 

“ No,” said the fairy. “ I like you very much 
indeed, but I’m afraid I’m most too little for your 
house.” 

“ Perhaps that’s true,” said the Giant; “ and 
when you want to see them, there are so many 
good people here in the palace. I am sure I like 
common human beings very much, and I would 
wish to be with them always, if they were not so 
little.” 

“ I like them too,” said Ting-a-ling, “ and 
would live with them all the time, if they were 
not so big.” 

















































































































































































































































